Citrix announced the upcoming 7.6 version of its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) product XenDesktop and desktop and virtualization product XenApp. XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 deliver an unmatched user experience with instant app access, and virtually eliminate the costs of ensuring storage performance. The new releases set a new industry standard for security, and include many new capabilities that can be integrated seamlessly into existing Citrix environments without disruption.

Cornerstones of the Citrix Workspace Suite, the industry's most complete mobile workspace solution, XenApp and XenDesktop are built on the third-generation FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA), and are designed to be deployed in the cloud, on-premise and in hybrid environments.

New features
The new releases provide new renditions of features made popular in earlier versions of XenApp

·        Application pre-launch

·        Session linger

·        Anonymous logon

·        ...

New enhancements

The releases also provide new enhancements to

·        Audio, video and graphics experience

·        Support for unified communications such as Lync Server 2013

·        Generic redirection of the latest USB 3.0 peripherals

·        User experience of Windows apps on mobile devices

·       Windows applications to be mobile-aware and provide features that enable GPS location awareness, picture and video capture, and screen rotation re-factoring

Integrates and Enhances Existing XenApp 6.5 Deployments

Several features of the latest version seamlessly integrate with XenApp 6.5.

·        New provisioning services

·        Updates to Citrix Receiver, StoreFront and HDX

·        AppDNA

·        System Center Connector

·        Monitoring consoles and more.

By adding these new values and capabilities, customers can improve their current solutions while simultaneous planning a smooth transition to XenApp 7.6 at their own pace. To make this task even simpler, Citrix is releasing new migration tools to help move the existing workloads to the new architecture when customers are ready.

Simplify App Migrations
XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 Platinum editions include the full power of Citrix AppDNA application migration technology. Some of the new enhancements include:

·        Multiple builds assessment

·        Interoperability testing

·        Application dependency mapping

·       Group policy object (GPO) settings detection, which further boost the performance and accuracy of AppDNA

No other virtualization solution offers this capability, which is absolutely vital today when customers are dealing with the end-of-life for Windows XP and pending end-of-life for Windows Server 2003. With AppDNA, IT can reduce the time and cost of migrating applications and platforms by as much as 90 percent.

A new way of thinking about your XenApp/XenDesktop deployment

The benefits of running your XenApp/XenDesktop farm on a certified cloud extend beyond that of datacenter choice.

·        License portability and ease-of-deployment are other key benefits.

·       As a Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop customer, you can contact any one of the Citrix Ready cloud providers and deploy your XenApp/XenDesktop server farm on the provider's production cloud.

·       This is a BYOL (Bring Your Own License Model) meaning that you simply use your existing XenApp/XenDesktop licenses, and purchase the infrastructure you need directly from the service provider.

·       Seasonal demand for desktop capacity, or enable you to handle specific business cases like mergers or acquisitions. 

·       Purchasing capacity in the cloud also means that you don't have to endure the long budget/procurement cycle associated with purchasing servers yourself, and you don't have to wait for the equipment to get racked and configured. 

In summary:

Cloud-based infrastructure is ready when you are. Support is simple as well—Citrix supports anything related to XenApp/XenDesktop and the service provider supports the infrastructure components. The Citrix Ready IaaS Cloud for XenDesktop program gives customers the peace of mind that a given cloud provider's infrastructure is suitable for deployment of XenApp/XenDesktop. A growing list of verified providers gives customers choice when it comes to geographic location and level of service.

Availability

XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 will be available in September 2014.