Get ready for VMblog's live coverage of Citrix Synergy 2015, kicking off May 12, 2015 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Citrix Synergy
is one of my "must attend" shows each year, and the event never
disappoints. It is jam packed with information and new technologies
being talked about and passed along during the keynotes, sessions and
the exhibit floor thanks to the show sponsors.
This year, I'm looking forward to catching up with the team from Liquidware Labs.
These guys are industry experts, and they've been around the desktop
virtualization market for quite some time! Founded in 2009, Liquidware
Labs has proven themselves to be an industry leader and pioneer in desktop virtualization solutions.
And they provide VMware and Citrix users with an arsenal of weaponry,
including award-winning products such as Stratusphere FIT and
Stratusphere UX for desktop visibility; ProfileUnity with FlexApp and
FlexDisk for desktop portability; and Flex-IO which supports IOPS
acceleration in VDI environments.
I've
been following the company very closely ever since they first started.
So if your company leverages or plans to leverage desktop
virtualization technology, make sure you come by their booth at Citrix
Synergy to get a first hand look at what they offer.
To dig in a little deeper and find out what Liquidware Labs has in store for Citrix Synergy, I spoke with Jason E. Smith ahead of the show to get a sneak peek.
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VMblog: Liquidware Labs is once again sponsoring Citrix Synergy. For the folks attending the show, how can they find you?
Jason E. Smith: Liquidware Labs is a Silver Sponsor this year at Synergy and we are located in Booth 434. We are in a larger space than we've been in previously
so visitors can comfortably get a demo of our products and chat with
our experts on the value of our offerings in a Citrix implementation.
VMblog: And is there anything interesting or unique about this year's booth setup?
Smith: We are very excited to be launching the next major release of ProfileUnity with significantly enhanced FlexApp application layering features. The new release greatly enhances desktop management and security by controlling the three major stress points in any virtual desktop environment: user profiles, policies, and applications.
VMblog:
For those who visit the booth, what message about your product can you
send them back with to sell their boss on your technology?
Smith:
You are getting some of the most innovative and elegant solutions for
Citrix desktops on the market on par with the quality of Citrix's
offerings. But the three main takeaways are:
- Liquidware
Labs innovated the industry's original Desktop Transformation
Essentials suite which includes ProfileUnity User Environment
Management, integrated FlexApp Application Layering features, and our
Stratusphere UX Visibility solution.
- Our products are very affordable and require no elaborate back-end systems to put in place. Our solutions leverage your existing Windows AD, Group Policy, and storage infrastructure. You will be using them within hours of installation and gaining results immediately. The ability to leverage existing infrastructure doesn't waste any cycles building up another stack that will compete for your IT staffs' attention and efforts.
- Support and Training, from Liquidware Labs directly, and from our wide partner network, is second to none.
VMblog:
Every year, the Synergy expo hall is filled with a sea of booths. Why
should an attendee put you on their "MUST SEE" list?
Smith:
You absolutely need to see ProfileUnity with FlexApp. We are providing
an affordable and seriously sophisticated option for application
layering with robust user environment management for Citrix
environments. Anyone who thinks that they'll need to consider VMware Workspace Environment Management and pay a premium for these features, and dilute their Citrix framework, will be in for a nice surprise at Booth 434. Our offerings are extremely competitive feature-set to feature-set compared to VMware WEM and in many ways go beyond their offering.
In fact, we "Dare You to Compare," and will place bets with anyone; you
will be blown away by what you see. And it is impossible to beat our price point, our entire suite is less than half the price of anything that comes close to comparing.
Second, if you are looking for user experience metrics to augment Citrix Director, you
absolutely need to look at Stratusphere UX. No other solution offers
the unique time-based metrics within Stratusphere UX that allows you to
monitor the health of your Citrix environment - both XenApp and
XenDesktop. And for diagnostics, no competitor even comes close.
Time after time, when other solutions fail to uncover the root cause,
Stratusphere UX has come through to solve the problem. That is why this
solution is used by major agencies in the FED space as well as leading
enterprise organizations all over the world.
VMblog: You guys have sponsored Synergy quite a few times. What keeps you coming back?
Smith:
Liquidware Labs was founded in 2009 and have been a strong Citrix
Partner since our inception. We have been attending both Citrix Summit
and Synergy annually from our first day. We won the Solution Partner of the Year in 2011.
Our products are Citrix Ready Certified, and we are now a Founding
Sponsor of the Citrix User Group Community. The majority of our channel
partners are also Citrix partners, so the ties that bind our two
organizations are strong and intricate.
Both Citrix and Liquidware Labs
are all about next-generation desktops. And Citrix is a highly
regarded engineering-focused organization - respected by true geeks
everywhere. We share the same philosophy of investing our time and
energy into developing world-class products that offer practical
relevant results to the Windows desktop community.
VMblog:
Most Citrix Synergy attendees enjoy a good giveaway or trade show
tchotchke. Are you guys giving away anything special or fun this
year?
Smith:
This year we are promoting the theme "Get Powerful Apps with FlexApp,"
and we are going to give-away very cool and unique t-shirts.
VMblog: Does your company have any speaking sessions during the show? If so, can you give us the who, what, when and where?
Smith: Yes, absolutely! Here are the details, and we hope everyone can add it to their agenda. The
session is all about Application Layering solutions (SYN 315) and is
Thursday, at 3:30. The time overlaps with the Beer Crawl on the Expo
floor. Don't let that keep you away! Grab a drink and then come up and
attend our session. You won't be sorry. We plan to make the session very educational.
Title: Application Layering for XenApp and XenDesktop Single Image Management
Presenters: Doug Brown- CTP & Jason E. Smith, Product Director, Liquidware Labs
Presentation: Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop is
the most used desktop virtualization platform in existence with over
100 million users. With PVS streamed desktops, published applications,
and full remote access, Windows Server and desktop image management can be a full-time job for an Administrator. New
application layering solutions now make it possible to "snap-in"
applications on a department or user basis making it possible to assign
applications without dedicated server builds!
In this session you'll learn:
- The Benefits to Single XenApp and XenDesktop Management via Application Layering
- Differing approaches to Application Layering
- Real-world use case for Application Layering and XenApp & XenDesktop
VMblog: What are you guys looking forward to most at Citrix Synergy this year?
Smith:
Basically every time we go it's like a Citrix reunion. The best part
is meeting all our old friends again, and meeting new ones.
VMblog: Do you remember your first Citrix Synergy event?
Smith: I
actually exhibited at the first "Citrix Thinergy" in Orlando in 1998 at
the Dolphin hotel. I was working for a modem sharing company at the
time. It was a great event and you could visit all the booths in less
than 30 minutes if you had wanted to. The Founder of Citrix, Ed lacobucci,
made an effort to say hello and thank every exhibitor personally,
telling us that he was glad to be partnering with us to build something
big. It left quite an impression. Years later in 2009 with Liquidware
Labs, we were proud to commit to Citrix Synergy as a 2010 exhibitor and
since then we've not missed a single one!
VMblog: Based on past experiences, what are you looking forward to most at this year's event?
Smith: Showing off our cool new software and seeing attendees mouths drop open when they see what we now have to offer.
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VMblog
is excited to be back at Citrix Synergy in 2015! For those of you also
attending, make sure to swing by and meet with Liquidware Labs at the
show. You can find them on the show floor at booth #434.