Seen as a way to communicate that Citrix is relevant to the mainstream
It simplifies the message
What is the advantage of XenApp on XenServer?
XenApp itself is not always worth virtualising, but some XenApp servers and supporting infrastructure servers will be worthwhile
Now that the overhead of XenApp on XenServer is only 7% sometimes its worth virtualising because there is a benefit from everything being virtual, even if the ratio is 1 to 1
Some customers would rather have a smaller number of users per server than the hardware allows, hence pushing the ratio to say 4 to 1.
Why did Ian decide to develop Xen?
A typical open source success story
Very close working relationship with hardware vendors, shipping Xen code has features that won’t light up until hardware ships that supports it in 2009
Lots of open source innovation on top of Xen and extending Xen
Although Citrix say this is not Linux like, I think it is, only the hypervisor is open source, very similar to the Linux kernel. Both projects by keeping the core deliverable limited in scope allow a lot of innovation around it
Will Citrix drop Xen when HyperV comes out?
Citrix will leverage Microsoft, but that’s all
Think of Xen and HyperV in the same way as ICA and RDP, my comment – this analogy works provided that HyperV lags behind Xen in capabilities
Citrix definitely think they will stay ahead of Microsoft in the hypervisor space
General question on integration
Citrix are very keen on Powershell
Workflow studio integrates well with powershell
Several products are optimised to work well together, eg WanScaler for caching streamed apps and shaping ICA traffic
Citrix core DNA?
To be a good enterprise citizen
For example snap into and integrate with other management infrastructures
Good partner
Pragmatic
Will continue to stick to what they do best
Not compete by closed lock-in strategies, Citrix will provide best integration with their own products, but will also work well with competing products
Will everyone in the world be on XenDesktop tomorrow?
XenDesktop is very exciting
Its not for everyone
XenApp is still more cost effective
XenDesktop promise extends uowards to those who need a “higher definition” experience – still not clear to me what they mean by this
Is there a Linux host for XenDesktop?
Currently no, Citrix claim that this is based on demand, I’m surprised I would expect XenDesktop for Linux being much more cost effective than Windows
What’s the roadmap to fix inter application communication with virtualization?
This is a key issue, coming out in the next release “real soon now”
As the OS moves to the network disk, why not put the apps on the network disk as well like Thinstall (now Thinapp)
Citrix didn’t really answer the question, however my comment is that if you pre-cache the apps in the PVS image then the experience is very Thinstall like
XenDesktop is still very early, Citrix are definitely looking to move to supporting physical desktops, laptops just as well as they support virtual desktops and hosted apps/desktops
Will Citrix provide a different licensing model – eg monthly subscription
No, it doesn’t seem to make sense since customers have already invested in the server hardware. My comment, I’m not so sure – in the flexible datacentre the servers can be reused elsewhere, and subscription licences would allow customers to invest in Citrix only while they are competitive and switch if they stop being
I'm retired from work as a business and IT strategist. now I'm travelling, hiking, cycling, swimming, reading, gardening, learning, writing this blog and generally enjoying good times with friends and family
