There’s a reason why AppSense was named the Citrix Ready Solution Partner of the Year back at Citrix Synergy. The solution drives end-user adoption and satisfaction in XenDesktop and XenApp environments, ultimately driving more ROI for your investment in desktop and application virtualization.

Specifically, according to a recent article in InfoWorld:

“The AppSense solution provides what is known as user virtualization, a technology that is still in its infancy; because of that, it doesn’t get a lot of airplay in the media. User virtualization isn’t discussed very often, so people may not have heard of the technology yet, let alone fully understand it or how it is used.”

With the AppSense Virtualized User Infrastructure, you can manage “everything specific to a user” – from user-based corporate policies to rights management and user-introduced applications.

Read the original article for a substantial review of how AppSense can help.

[Source: InfoWorld]

In this series, we’ll focus on the implications of specific technology solutions for CFOs. Though they are the keepers of a company’s financial health, they don’t always understand the advantages that come with certain technology solutions, and IT professionals sometimes take a suboptimal approach when explaining these concepts to the finance team. This series is intended to help make those conversations easier and more effective.

Your CFO is focused on keeping costs under control, and a request for new technology tends to be met with skepticism. Whether he thinks you’re chasing something new and exciting or believes that the status quo is just fine for now, the CFO isn’t likely to start writing checks just because you asked. Emphasizing the technological advantages of a particular solution won’t help much either, especially for virtualization technologies, which can be difficult for anyone working outside the infrastructure team to grasp fully. So, when you reach out to your CFO to talk about the need for a virtualization solution (e.g., storage, server or desktop), you need to make sure your pitch is tailored to a decidedly non-technical audience.

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Citrix HDX and Wyse Xenith are poised to change the desktop virtualization landscape. At Citrix Synergy, the two companies announced that the zero-client capabilities of Xenith are being paired with HDX to eliminate the management and security issues associated with traditional client devices, while delivering a high-definition user experience. The move will lower the barriers to the mainstream adoption of desktop virtualization.

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From the floor at Citrix Synergy …

Citrix has announced the first public release of XenClient. This is a new client-side virtualization solution that was developed in collaboration with Intel. XenClient allows centrally managed virtual desktops to run directly on corporate laptops and PCs, even when they are disconnected from the network and is designed to provide the highest levels of performance, security and isolation through its bare metal architecture and integration with Intel vPro hardware virtualization technologies.

XenClient Express, a free trial and evaluation kit that lets IT professionals begin experiencing the benefits of desktop virtualization for their mobile users, is available for immediate download beginning today.

Key facts and highlights are below:

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You don’t know what’s going on with the desktops across your organization. It’s the Wild West out there. Non-standard software, personal website surfing and connections over public wireless networks after hours can lead to an accumulation of desktop risk that can spread to your enterprise as fast as … well, as fast as a virus can move from one computer to the next.

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In the battle between IT departments and malware developers, victory for the “good guys” seems like a remote possibility. They are always a step ahead, and desktop support teams and security professionals are often forced to react to grave threats. Viruses don’t require much technical savvy to create, but protecting your enterprise from them does. It isn’t a fair fight. Further, the stakes are high. Your entire company is at risk – not to mention your customers and partners. Fortunately, you have a new tool in your arsenal of protective measures: Citrix XenDesktop 4.

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Did you know that Citrix just played a role in sending the first tweet from space? The action on the International Space Station shows just what the convergence of desktop virtualization, social media and an immovable drive to push further the boundaries of human experience can accomplish.

NASA has incorporated Citrix XenDesktop 4 with high-definition HDX technology into its recently launched Crew Support LAN. This system gives astronauts on the International Space Station direct, private access to a desktop that looks familiar – bringing all the comforts of home, at least technologically, to even the most remote of locations. In addition to virtual desktops, the Crew Support LAN features Citrix Branch Repeater WAN optimization technology.

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A new collaboration agreement between Citrix and Microsoft has led to Citrix support for the upcoming Microsoft RemoteFX platform. This newly announced platform will be made available in a future release of Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack 1. It will allow all virtual desktops on a single Windows Server or Hyper-V server to share the power of graphics acceleration hardware built into server and end user devices.

Under the new collaboration agreement, Citrix XenDesktop™ will expand its high-definition HDX™ technology to further enhance the capabilities of RemoteFX and extend them to a broader range of use cases and locations. By addressing the most demanding rich graphics environments, Citrix and Microsoft will continue working together to advance the state-of-the-art in desktop virtualization technology, making virtual desktops a rich, high-definition experience for all users, regardless of their device, location or role.

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The era of the same people sitting at the same desks every single day is behind us. The workforce is now mobile, and the trend isn’t going away. For businesses, this means being able to hire the best talent regardless of location, being able to spend more time with clients and gaining an unprecedented level of flexibility. Yet, it also comes with the challenge of keeping employees connected with the company when they’re waiting in airports, standing in clients’ hallways between meetings and working from home.

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The latest version of the popular Citrix presentation server arrived last week. XenApp 6 is designed specifically for use on Windows Server 2008 R2, and it will integrate with Microsoft systems management tools and App-V application virtualization. XenApp 6 will also include support for video and audio conferencing and a simpler installation process. End-user self-service for application deployment is also available. Thanks to the addition of HDX support to the latest version of XenApp, smartphones are now included in the devices that this application virtualization platform can reach.

The new enhancements to XenApp 6 will be available as an integrated feature of Citrix XenDesktop 4, the top desktop virtualization solution on the market. Since more than half the ROI of a virtual desktop environment comes from centralized application management, the integration between XenDesktop 4 and XenApp 6 offers a substantial opportunity to extend the value of your Citrix virtualization investment. With a combined XenApp 6/XenDesktop 4 environment, you’ll be able to deliver applications as an on-demand service – to any user on any device and across a wide range of physical and virtual desktops.

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