Introduction and Microsoft Partner Solutions Center…

Hi I am Michael Kleef, Director of Business Development for Microsoft and Citrix at AppSense. I’m a recent addition to AppSense having spent nearly 11 years at Microsoft with my last role being a Senior Technical Product Manager for depth content and knowledge in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RDS and VDI.

I have had  few interested messages through my email and privately over twitter (@mkleef) asking why I left Microsoft and chose to go to AppSense. Essentially I was really excited by what I saw AppSense doing; transforming the discussion from device centric computing to a world of user centric computing. The interesting thing is that even while I was at Microsoft I was seeing evidence that in addition to Microsoft, many other companies saw great value in AppSense such as inclusion with a number of major players into their reference architectures such as the HP client reference architecture and Cisco VXI. AppSense also won the Citrix Ready Partner of the Year 2010. I did my own due diligence looking at others, though in the end it made it an easy slam dunk move to go to the market leader in the user virtualization space.

Microsoft is obviously a critical partner in multiple areas for AppSense, so it’s important that we are onsite on the Microsoft Redmond campus regularly. To help us support that we are  part of the on campus Microsoft Partner Solutions Center (MPSC).  The MPSC is a facility that showcases some of Microsoft’s partners and their  solutions for business and demonstration purposes. Having been there for almost a year now, we can confirm it’s a great facility with tremendous value to the Microsoft partner ecosystem. We also noticed that RES Software have recently joined the MPSC. The addition of RES Software to the MPSC confirms the importance and relevancy of the user virtualization market that we pioneered which is growing significantly and presenting an exciting challenge to our product leadership.

Demonstration systems on the Microsoft campus are especially important to be able to showcase your product and how it works. I personally developed an integrated Citrix, Microsoft and AppSense demo on the Microsoft campus in Redmond many months ago. It includes Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1,Hyper-V, Windows 7 Enterprise SP1, App-V packaged applications and streamed applications such as Office 2010 all running on top of Citrix XenDesktop 5 and XenApp 6. Overlaid on top of that is AppSense User Virtualization which seamlessly manages the user as they create settings and move in real-time from their XenDesktop managed Windows 7 to a XenApp 6 session. This is available on Microsoft’s corporate network which any Microsoft employee can logon to using their domain credentials making it a very good demo for them to use with existing or potential customers.

We plan to take this demo further forward and place it on the Internet for our partners to also use and see the power of AppSense User Virtualization really delivering value in a variety of Citrix and Microsoft technology scenarios. Watch this space for more on that!

If you have any questions about User Virtualization at the MPSC or would be interested in getting a demo from one of our team in your local area, drop me a line.

Thanks,
Michael Kleef

ComputerWeekly (Again): NATS to roll out cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure with Citrix & AppSense

My my.. and who said VDI isn’t real? and that it doesn’t cut costs?

Following on from my other customer related post this morning – The Co-operative Group cuts costs with Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense User Virtualization – I’m pleased to share with you another article about another leading enterprise organization adoption a joint solution of Citrix and AppSense technologies to enable the desktop strategy to employ cloud-based virtual desktops to reduce the IT spend.

NATS, the UK’s air traffic control organisation is rolling out 6,000 virtual desktops based which “will be provided using the Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp suite of software. AppSense user virtualisation technology will provide NATS staff with personalised and compliant desktops”

Further information:

CompterWeekly – NATS to roll out cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure

NATS Official Website – NATS takes to the Cloud

Citrix Community Blog – NATS UK

As you can see, desktop virtualization is real, it’s happening, and Citrix & AppSense work together hand in hand on nearly all of them ;)

Cheers!

Gaz

ComputerWeekly: The Co-operative Group cuts costs with Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense User Virtualization

Oh the joys of Google Alerts and Twitter feeds… Today, on this cold, cloudy and wet Friday morning I was graced with a little ray of sunshine to brighten up the start of the weekend.  I saw an article over on ComputerWeekly.com about how The Co-operative (the world’s largest consumer-owned business) is cutting their desktop costs through the use of desktop virtualization technology from Citrix and user virtualization technology from AppSense.

I was already aware the Co-operative are a joint AppSense and Citrix Case Study, and we have even done joint webinars together with Microsoft too, but I like this article as it shows the cost savings available through successful desktop virtualization based on best in breed technologies, and how with careful planning and internal champions the new systems are embraced by the users.

Key highlights include:

Managing the virtual environment

• Managing licences was key to the project. The Co-op uses AppSense’s Environment Manager and Application Manager as part of its Citrix XenApp environment to standardise its management tools.
• Cawson said the management tool helps look after applications to meet any governance and compliance issues around licensing. The company decided to use AppSense’s Environment Manager and user personalisation instead of XenDesktop directly to provide “greater control and granularity”.
• “AppSense Environment Manager delivers a personalised experience every time our users log on, making it impossible for them to decipher between a traditional PC and their virtual one,” he added.

You can read the article here – Case study: Co-operative Group cuts costs with desktop virtualisation ahead of office move

and the AppSense PDF Case Study here – World’s largest consumer-owned business selects AppSense to effectively manage the user experience in new desktop virtualization environment

You can learn more about how AppSense and Citrix are working together as part of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model White Paper on AppSense User Virtualization and the Proof of Concept Kit here

 Cheers

Gaz

AppSense is a YouTube Sensation: AppSense Exec Team Meeting after Citrix – Ringcube Acquisition

So it seems like AppSense is becoming a YouTube sensation.. first a joint music video with Citrix – AppSense and Citrix Music Video – Virtualize! – and now, someone has put a spin on one of the most popular viral hits on YouTube…

…This time, in the form of AppSense Exec Team Meeting after Ringcube Acquisition

The video is just under 4 minutes long and has had me laughing out loud throughout the whole thing.

Whilst this is extremely funny and flattering, it is also just inaccurate, but that can wait.. I will respond with some substance and clarity in due course, for now, just enjoy it for what it is… and you never know, at this rate AppSense could become a bigger YouTube hit than the Charlie bit my finger – again! video

I am not sure who you are Blowme931, but thank you for taking the time to make and upload the video.. it has certainly brightened up this rainy attempt of UK summer afternoon in the UK..

Cheers!

Gaz

AppSense and Citrix Music Video – Virtualize!

As you probably know, Citrix and AppSense share many things; a long-standing partnership, thousands of joint customers, hundreds of joint partners, multiple case studies, and now, I am pleased to share with you – a joint Music Video!

That’s right, Citrix and AppSense have teamed up once again, this time for your viewing pleasure.  Fabian Kienle, Channel Manager Eastern EMEA Citrix and I have recorded videos before ( CitrixTV Interview ) but this time we teamed up to do something a little bit different, and something Fabian has much pleasure in doing.. A MUSIC VIDEO.

You may remember from previous blogs that Fabian has created music videos before, and together we have now filmed a parody of the Timberland and One Republic song, Apologize.

This video is set in one of the server rooms in the Citrix Demo facilities in Munich, and in it you see some of the AppSense DACH team and Fabian singing along to parody version of the song, performed by my girlfriend Kayley Rose.

The Video Cast are:

Drums: Jens Schmidt – AppSense
Guitar: Dr Benny Tritsch – AppSense
Technician: Sascha Goeckle – AppSense
Chello: Chris Baugh – AppSense
Piano: Fabian Kienle – Citrix
Camera & Production: Dominik Nagel – DNS
Vocals – Kayley Rose

You can view the video on the AppSense YouTube Channel here, or by clicking on the screenshot below:

 

I hope you enjoy the video as much as we did making it, look out for many more to come.. you never know, Citrix Synergy Barcelona Party could be headlined  by the Citrix And AppSense Band LoL

Again, thanks to everyone for giving up their time to make this video, and look forward to continued success and our tight partnership!

Gaz

Virtualization Review: The Many Faces of Desktop Virtualization

Simon Rust, VP of Technology, AppSense (Twitter @SimonARust ) has posted a very interesting article on his VirtualizationReview blog – The Many Faces of Desktop Virtualization.  In this article Simon describes some of the many technologies used to ‘Virtualize a Desktop’ and how these differ from ‘VDI’

Topics include:

• Operating System Provisioning
• Remote Desktop Services
• Client Hypervisors
• Client-side Hosted Virtual Desktops
• Application Virtualization

You can read the article in full on VirtualizationReview.com here

Cheers!
Gaz

AppSense Performance Manager 8.1 is released!

AppSense Performance Manager controls and optimizes CPU, Memory and Disk I/O to improve system capacity, improve application response times and provide a superior quality of service.  I am pleased to announce that AppSense Performance Manager 8.1 is now available :)

AppSense Performance Manager 8.1 brings further enhancements to both the performance and statistic functions and increases the flexibility and scalability of the product via enhancements to existing functionality and the addition of new features and capabilities.

New Features Include:
Data Housekeeping
> Data Limits within the Statistics Database
> Data Purge Controls within the Statistics Database

Timed Statistic Collection
> Specify the time for Statistics Collection
> Out of Operational Hours Analysis

Optimized Default Configuration
> Increase in System Capacity & Quality of Service

Optimized Coding of AppSense Performance Manager Processes
> Enhancements to the Optimizer code

A PDF version of the What’s New in AppSense Performance Manager 8.1 document can be found here

A page on AppSense.com with  more detailed information and options to download AppSense Performance Manager 8.1 can be found here

Thank you to all that help build and develop AppSense Performance Manager 8.1; Developers, Customers, Partners, PreSales, QA etc, it is very much appreciated.

Cheers

Gaz

AppSense Sponsor Citrix Partner Accelerator Events – Register Here

As the Citrix Ready Partner of the Year, AppSense is happy and proud to once again be sponsoring the Citrix Partner Accelerator 2011 events in Dublin on 17th February and in Birmingham on 10th March. Along with Citrix and our joint distributors, we’ll be there to deliver Commercial & Market updates including joint Go To Market initiatives between Citrix, Microsoft & AppSense, answer your questions and ensure you can maximize Citrix adoption in 2011 through User Virtualization.

If you haven’t already done so please register for Birmingham or Dublin today.

Also at the events, find out more about why out of over 15,000 Citrix Ready Partner Solutions, Citrix presented AppSense with The Citrix Ready® Solution Partner of the Year Award, and recommends AppSense as the leading User Virtualization provider. Read the Citrix Ready Case Study on AppSense here.

If you would like to arrange an appointment with the AppSense event team, please contact ChannelMarketing@appsense.com or speak to your AppSense Channel Manager.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Best Regards,

CDC selects AppSense over the competition for mix of over 10k Citrix and Physical Desktops

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) selects AppSense (Citrix Ready Solution of the Year)  to provide a seamless & personal user experience across their physical desktop and new Citrix virtual desktop environment.

CDC have over 10,000 unique visitors accessing their Citrix infrastructure from multiple device and site locations on a monthly basis and found that personalization was unable to effectively roam between desktops using only Roaming Profiles.  Further more desktops must be dynamically configured with different security rules, access permissions and lockdown when the user access their desktop from different locations or devices.

As part of any large-scale deployment of a User Virtualization solution the CDC performed due diligence and evaluated other technologies on the market, however found;
“AppSense is the market leader in the user virtualization space so it was an easy decision for us. We evaluated other products but AppSense was really the only solution out there that could scale and do what we needed. We knew AppSense was the right approach to deliver the best experience for the user and the best way for our IT department to manage the system.” – Lee Eilers, Remote Access Services Team Lead – CDC.

CDC also decided on AppSense as their strategic solution for the universal support of managing the user across locally installed applications, Citrix delivered applications, and Microsoft App-V applications.

Personally i think this is a great case study as it covers:

•  The requirement for (AppSense) User Virtualization (UV) in a large virtual desktop environment
•  As per many of our other Enterprise customers, the number of UV seats is actually bigger than desktop virtualization seats as it also spans Physical Desktops
•  Policy is also of huge importance and only AppSense provides the granular controls required.

You can read the PDF case study by clicking on the image below – other customers case studies and videos can be found on both AppSense.com and Citrix.com

Thanks to all at CDC and AppSense for great work on this leading deployment of Citrix, Microsoft and AppSense technologies.
Cheers

Gaz

CitrixTV Interview – AppSense interview about relationship and being Citrix Ready Partner of the Year

I often visit www.CitrixTV.com to keep up to date with all the Citrix solutions and partner news, only when visited today, I was greeted by my ugly mug in the most recent videos section!

During Citrix Synergy Berlin CitrixTV recorded an interview hosted by my good friend Fabian Kienle and myself.. (for those of you who don’t know Fabian, he is Mr Citrix through and through, and may recall my blog posts about the parody music videos he has done in the past – Citrix Music Video: https://appsense.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/citrix-vmware-dns-pop-music-videos/ – although the music video has been moved from the link I have in the blog but can be found on YouTube here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFbRum484HQ )

Anyway, back to the interview on CitrixTV – Fabian is keen to ask and let the viewers know about key Citrix + AppSense joint partnerships, activities, shared customers and being Citrix Ready Partner of the Year

You can watch the video over on CitrixTV here – http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/3196 

Many thanks to my friends at Citrix and the CitrixTV crew..

See you all soon…
Gaz