In early May 2009, Citrix plans to release Citrix XenDesktop 3 Feature Pack 1, a simple, in-place upgrade to the industry-leading virtual desktop solution. The Feature Pack will offer a trial release of
Citrix HDX MediaStream for Flash technology, graphics and video performance optimizations,
HDX RealTime Voice-over-IP (VoIP) softphone compatibility, extended Smart Card integration and a number of other product enhancements. Whether you are currently using XenDesktop in production or just beginning a virtual desktop proof-of-concept, download the Feature Pack to take advantage of the latest advancements and performance benefits, such as:
- Citrix HDX MediaStream for Flash - Trial Release: This technology makes XenDesktop the first and only virtual desktop solution to enable a truly local-PC experience with resource-intensive Adobe Flash videos, animations and applications. With an estimated 99% of all Internet users accessing Flash-based content (source: Adobe Systems, Inc.), this capability is an important part of the virtual desktop experience. It leverages the processing power of a user’s endpoint device to provide a seamless streaming video experience through Microsoft Internet Explorer, even with high definition video content. It also reduces server and network load, resulting in higher virtual desktop scalability and lower server and networking infrastructure costs.
- VoIP softphone compatibility: Through enhancements to the HDX RealTime capabilities, XenDesktop enables office workers to get a complete virtual desktop experience that includes voice communications. Combined with existing support for microphones and headsets and bidirectional audio, XenDesktop is able to deliver powerful collaboration and communications functionality to enhance productivity and user satisfaction with their virtual desktops.
- Smart Card integration enhancements: The Feature Pack expands on existing Smart Card integration to include support for Linux endpoints. It also enhances the SmoothRoaming capability to allow users to move to another device – even with a different card reader – and have their virtual desktop session automatically follow them. New features also ensure that security measures remain intact for Smart Card-enabled applications as well – the Smart Card is passed through to applications that are hosted or streamed from XenApp. For security and compliance, no other virtual desktop solution offers as seamless and complete integration with Smart Card authentication solutions.
- Early Release of Support for Windows 7 Beta: For those planning their Windows 7 migrations, the Feature Pack comes with an early release of support for the Windows 7 Beta from Microsoft. The latest Citrix HDX technologies are enabled, including HDX MediaStream, HDX Plug-n-Play and HDX RealTime
All these capabilities, plus additional performance tuning that enhances user experience with Silverlight and QuickTime video, graphics, animations and other on-screen motion, will be made available for download soon! Keep checking Citrix.com as well as the
Citrix Community XenDesktop blog for the latest information on XenDesktop 3 Feature Pack 1.
What’s New In XenDesktop 3
Citrix XenDesktop 3 is the newest release of Citrix market-leading virtual desktop (VDI)solution. XenDesktop 3 incorporates several new Citrix HDX™ technologies, giving virtual desktop users a richer high-definition experience with enhanced support for multimedia and peripherals. XenDesktop 3 also dramatically improves scalability, hosting twice as many virtual desktops per server as previous versions. With version 3, XenDesktop becomes the first product on the market to deliver Microsoft® Windows® desktops from a common set of centrally managed images that can be run either in the datacenter (hosted) or directly on a PC or thin client device (local). This new capability gives IT organizations far more flexibility, reducing desktop management costs by making efficient use of distributed processing power across both servers and endpoint devices.