As you may or may not know Citrix Synergy is in full swing at the moment and a number of key announcements have been made, the key ones to us are:
- XenClient Release Candidate is out
- McAfee client security suite will be redesigned so that all the processing doesn't happen within each VM
- Wyse Xenith is a zero client for HDX
- Citrix Receiver will add local encrypted storage area for streamed apps that run locally.
With XenClient, Citrix has beaten virtualisation leader VMware to the table with a client hypervisor, available today for download in a "test kit" version.
What is a client hypervisor, and why are Citrix and VMware so hot on it? Basically, client hypervisors have the potential to jump-start adoption of desktop virtualisation, where business user desktops are centrally maintained and secured in the data center and accessed over the network -- vastly reducing overhead and boosting security.
With a client hypervisor such as XenClient, the VDI server can deliver a copy of the user's virtual machine over the network to the client, where it runs in its own partition. Think of that virtual machine as a virtual and highly secure business desktop, which can run alongside yet completely separate from a user's personal desktop environment. Users get the best of both worlds: access to the server-based desktop from any location and any device, plus the option to take it with them when they go offline.
One problem is the breadth of hardware supported. At this point we know that XenClient will run only on Intel processors with VT (Virtualization Technology). Right now they are supporting some of the mainstream desktop platforms from the big three OEMs: Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
So there you have it, XenClient is here and can be downloaded today from here. There are two components to it:
- XenClient and XenClient Receiver
- Synchronizer for XenClient.
Flexcast is being expanded upon to include a fourth offering – XenClient. There's a receiver for XenClient you can use to interact with the client. There's a component called "Synchronizer" that keeps a copy of the VMs, and at all times, back in the datacenter. All changes trickled in real-time from the client up to the datacenter. There's a remote kill pill functionality.
The user interface for XenClient for users to pick and download various VMs is actually pretty intuitive and shows some careful consideration.
Take a look at the videos here: