Citrix Systems, an application delivery infrastructure vendor, unveiled a set of improvements to its application delivery product line, Citrix XenApp, designed to simplify the process of delivering Windows applications as an on-demand service. The enhancements boost XenApp's capabilities in capacity planning, server provisioning and application management, the vendor says.
The new suite, XenApp 5, includes the XenServer Enterprise-class Virtualization Platform, is part of Citrix's efforts to better address large data center virtualization initiatives. "Free virtualization solutions are useful for small or trial deployments, but have lacked the features necessary to really make a dramatic, transformative impact on data centers," Mick Hollison, vice president XenApp product marketing, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "With the XenServer enterprise-class virtualization platform included with XenApp, customers can now lower the cost of virtualizing their XenApp infrastructure, and have the tools to manage their virtualized data centers."
Tools now included with XenApp 5 include complete resource pooling, shared storage, dynamic infrastructure control, Hollison adds. "Enterprise-class virtualization has always had the ability to make a strong impact on data centers. Our ability to lower the cost of deployment will make widespread adoption a reality."
Citrix XenServer will now be available as a core feature of all editions of XenApp, extending enterprise-class server virtualization to the more than one million servers currently running XenApp in data centers today, the vendor says. Using XenServer with XenApp enables organizations to virtualize XenApp server workloads, effectively converting a single physical server with idle capacity into multiple, virtual servers running at full capacity.
Included in the new enhancements to XenApp 5 is the ability to manage a single, standardized XenApp server image in a central location, and dynamically provision it to hundreds of XenApp servers across a large, distributed data center environment. New user profile management capabilities in XenApp 5 enable organizations to maintain and consolidate a user's profile.
Local application virtualization, previously only available in the Enterprise and Platinum editions of XenApp, is now available in every edition of XenApp 5. This capability enables customers to stream centrally managed applications to an end-user's PC or laptop and run them locally in a virtualized environment, even when the user is disconnected from the network. As a result, XenApp customers no longer need to purchase separate licenses to enable offline access for mobile laptop users. The management toolset included with XenApp Enterprise and Platinum Editions creates simulations that help IT benchmark XenApp hosting servers.
"In the interest of doing more with less, customers are demanding an all-encompassing enterprise virtualization solution," says Hollison. "Citrix has answered the call for reduced cost across the board to helping our customers when workloads continue to increase while resources these days do not. Our Citrix Delivery Center product family gives an unmatched experience for customers looking to accelerate their adoption of advanced virtualization technologies."
For more information, visit the Citrix site.