You’ve upgraded your desktops. You’ve upgraded your data centers. But have you upgraded the IT experience for users? Years and years ago if a user wanted a service from IT, they would call the help desk and open a request or ticket. That could be a request for applications, printers, a new peripheral or even a password or pin reset. The user’s whole experience with IT requests was dominated by a call to the help desk and then: hurry up and wait. Why? Because that help desk agent had to seek approval requests, do resource discovery, acquire the requested service and then deliver the service to the end user. All ... READ MORE>>

I have been attending, speaking at and sponsoring MMS since 2005. I can honestly say that this year’s MMS was unlike any other before. Why? Because this year’s was the most anticlimactic event I have had the displeasure of attending since Citrix Synergy EMEA 2012.

This year’s MMS lacked any net new announcement. There was no buzz, no excitement and no energy. It felt like Microsoft viewed this as an obligation. They committed to it last year publicly at the Venetian casino. Boldly announcing they would do it again but in 2013 it would be in New Orleans. Oops. Then in the Fall it was discretely changed to Vegas and at the ... READ MORE>>

I just wrapped up a webinar with two great partners of mine, Ntersect and X-IO technologies, on why some companies struggle with their XenApp migrations. Now, I’ve blogged on the end of life for XenApp 4.5 before but this webi was a comprehensive case study on a healthcare organization in Texas and the process they went through to achieve success and the lessons they learned.

First and foremost, even though this is a real customer, I will change the names to maintain privacy rules. So, let’s call this hospital “Rampart.” At “Rampart” they were faced with the need to move off of their existing Presentation Server 4.5 ... READ MORE>>

XenApp connector for SCCM

Today Microsoft and Citrix announced the release of the new XenApp connector for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (a.k.a Project Thor). When I was at Microsoft I was part of the team that brought the original connector to market (f.k.a Project Titan). These releases are great steps forward in the user centric computing model. In their blog (which you can find here)…Citrix told us a story about “Ann”, as part of their news release on a XenApp connector for Microsoft SCCM. More About Ann… We at RES, given our deep interest in technology about how IT professionals are going to ... READ MORE>>

Well, the Mayans were wrong about 2012. But now Citrix says it’s the End of Life in 2013. Are you ready?
I have been giving the above a lot of thought as of late. It is not unusual for a software vendor to announce a hard deadline for the end of life for a product, and Citrix is no different. On March 31, 2013 Citrix will officially declare the “End of Life” for Presentation Server 4.5. What does this mean to the IT professional? No more service packs, hotfixes or even the usual support. That’s it. Kaput. Fine. Use at your own risk. Does that impact you? It ... READ MORE>>