It used to be difficult to "try" Citrix Presentation Server in the past.  If you wanted to demo it, you had to request an evaluation copy of the software from Citrix, wait for the CD to arrive and then spend time installing and configurating it.  But it looks like Citrix sees the benefits of joining in the virtual appliance game.

The new Citrix Evaluation Virtual Appliance (EVA) is a preconfigured, ready-to-go, virtual machine system for evaluating Presentation Server Enterprise 4.5 and Platinum Edition 4.5. The EVA enables you to download a completely configured Presentation Server environment and have it up and running in as little as 10 minutes after download. This new, simplified evaluation method enables you to interact with the Citrix management interface, and evaluate Citrix’s application delivery infrastructure from both administrative and end-user perspectives. You have 30 days to evaluate Presentation Server with your own applications and, because you don’t need additional server hardware or rack space in the data center, the evaluation process can be done quickly, with minimal impact to regular operations.

How it Works
The Citrix EVA is a preconfigured Microsoft Virtual Server VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file. It runs as a Microsoft Test Drive virtual machine under Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, and depending on the version of EVA you download, will run Presentation Server Platinum or Presentation Server Enterprise.

Installation is simple: after downloading, you extract the EVA package, add the EVA to your Virtual Server Environment, and begin the evaluation.

What’s Included
The EVA includes all the components you need to evaluate the most advanced features of Citrix application delivery infrastructure, including:

• Application virtualization
• Application streaming
• Application performance monitoring
• SmartAccess
• Single sign-on

Only Citrix offers the comprehensive set of application delivery technologies required to deliver all application types and all user access scenarios. Here’s your chance to check it out for yourself: click the link to download the new Citrix EVA.

Login with your MyCitrix account and download it, here.