The second half of the keynote at Citrix Synergy 2013 focused on two areas: HDX Mobile and XenMobile. If you didn't get a chance to read my blog post on HDX mobile, you can find it here:
http://anexinetisg.blogspot.com/2013/05/citrix-partner-summit-hdx-enhancements.html
Mobile Development:
Another major announcement was around application development for mobile devices. Citrix introduced major enhancements to the XD Mobility Pack that includes more than 50 APIs for the new Mobile SDK, including porting of windows apps for view on mobile devices. These enhancements allow Windows .Net developers to quickly deploy applications from traditional .Net and desktop use to gesture-based functions (and form factor resizing) for tablets and smartphones - all without any major re-write of .Net code. Citrix also announce the release of a Citrix Mobile developer forum that will publish code examples and developer tools - coming in June 2013.
Edgesight updates were next on the list- I'll provide more details in a separate post on this topic.
Citrix and NVIDIA - Deploy graphics intesive apps remotely:
Mark Templeton is joined on stage with Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, to discuss the partnership between Citrix and NVIDIA and demonstrate the new capabilities of the combined solution. Jen-Hsun discussed the start of the co-development around Boeing's initiative to design and build the 787 completed digital (in 2006). This included collaboration of disparate development teams across the globe on disparate design programs and multiple companies. Needless to say, technology wasn't adequate to solve this problem and forced both companies to architect new technologies to solve these challenges.
This is followed by a demo of Adobe Photoshop running on an Apple iPad as a published app from the cloud on Windows using XD7 and NVIDIA's GvGPU. The demo showcases use of advance filtering techniques and 3D GL manipulation of a picture and all demonstrated with NO PERFORMANCE LAG.
The next demo featured the RTT Delta Gen application (used by all the major auto manufacturers for rendering new car designs. This demo was run virtually on a Mac, through XD7 as a Windows published desktop with the backend utilizing NVIDIA's Grid K2 card in HP servers, all remotely in the Citrix Cloudplatform. Access was provided via Netscaler and Cloudbridge. The demo featured major manipulation of lighting data and OpenGL and GPU processing. Again, NO PERFORMANCE LAG.
Jen-Hsun discusses the impact of GvGPU, NVIDIA virtualized the GPU by sharing the access via MMU, which provides the ability to share the vGPU across multiple workloads. Citrix is the first vendor to take advantage of this feature and allow true shared GPU access to virtual workloads in XD - no more one-for-one GPU to workload. A demo of Autocad running a virtual GPU in a published app in a virtual desktop is shown.
XenApp 6.5 Feature Pack 2 updates:
Not everything shown requires an upgrade to XD7. Mark discusses Feature Pack 2 for XA 6.5 that features alot of functions as discussed:
- HDX 3D Pro support (read the HDX blog post for more details)
- Seamless local apps (run local application in the VDI session seamlessly)
- Automated Application P2V via AppDNA
- Lync 2013 support (read the HDX blog post for the specific details)
- HDX mobile SDK integration
Data, Devices, Apps => End User Experience => Mobility
Xenmobile is introduced. Major enhancements, including both new functionality and tighter integration. As expected, a big piece of XenMobile is the Zenprise acquisition, specifically around the conventional MDM and MAM deployment models. But Citrix has integrated much more to include a full mobile lifecycle management platform.
One key enhancement was the ability to deliver Windows applications seamlessly with gesture-based control on any device. This includes, primarily, the Windows Office suite.
Citrix Worx Suite - XenMobile:
Another major announcement was around the Citrix Worx suite. The Worx suite provides a number of features to help manage and secure enterprise data and applications in a compliant manner. Worx Enroll provides self–service device registration to minimize the need for IT to enable access to BYO Devices. Worx Home provides the ability to separate the personal use apps/data from the work-enabled app/data access by configuring Mobile Settings, providing integrate support, and giving access to the enterprise app store.
Brad Peterson shows Worx Enroll and Worx Home enrollment process on his personal iPhone 5. This demonstration includes selective wipe capabilities as well as the secure app containers to prevent data/app access to non-work applications. Citrix GotoAssist chat, integrated into XenMobile as part of Worx Home Support, is also demoed.
All of the Worx Suite components are based on Citrix MDX technology and includes the following features:
- secure app containers for secure data/app access
- micro VPN - used by WorxWeb for automatically configured secure VPN access to internal web
- app specific lock and wipe capabilities
- inter-app communication control - which apps can talk and share data with each other
- conditional access policy
- federated identity and SSO
Citrix also showcases the answers to required applications for enterprise workforces:
- WorxMail - secure email browser to sepearate personal and business email
- WorxWeb - secure web browser that provids access to internal network URL via microVPN
- Sharefile - Enterprise filesharing services on any device
XenMobile is available in three editions – MDM, App, and Enterprise and will start shipping in June 2013. For those with existing MDM solutions, you can still take advantage of the Worx Suite for secure app containers (think Airwatch + Worx).
Worx App SDK:
Citrix also announced the Citrix Worx App SDK. This provides the ability to "register" apps that you develop for business use so that data can be shared between "authorized" applications. This is currently available as part of the Worx Suite.
– simply add this string to your code: MDXSDK/FunctionRename.h
Citrix also announced the Worx App Gallery, which is similar to the app store from Apple and Google, but specific to registered Worx enabled applications (over 80 currently available). This will be generally accessible in the second half of 2013.
Check out the detailed blog on Edgesight and Netscaler updates in future blog posts.Labels: Citrix, HDX, Mobility, NVIDIA, Synergy, Worx, XenMobile