“We look at all of our value propositions through the lens of mobile” #CitrixIA.

I was watching the twitter feed of industry analysts as they heard Citrix leadership present throughout the day yesterday (September 18th 2013), and in particular, this generalized quote that filtered out from Mark Templeton really stood out to me. I 100% agree and in such a simple way, he conveyed the very purpose of Remote PC Access as it applies to existing desktops.

Recently, I created a frustrated day in the life of remote desktop access live action video  that showcases Remote PC Access solving user challenges associated with BYO, VPNs, and work/life circumstances, applying XenDesktop through that lens of mobile.

Remote PC Access can be considered a stanchion for remote desktop mobility in quite a few different ways so let’s discuss the top 10 reasons customers are embracing it:

  1. You are a “Citrix admin” and publish an application from MetaFrame/Presentation Server/XenApp, which allows a user to type in their desktop IP Address or machine name, then the user painstakingly authenticates again.  This connection is then using the MF/PS/XA server as a protocol transition proxy server.
  2. You are a “network services admin” and create VPN tunnels (clientless or not), to allow remote desktop applications to traverse the secure connection into the DMZ.  After the authentication for the VPN, users then create their own links to machines internally, and you have to apply Network Access Controls to ensure they are not connecting to any PC, then policies to ensure various virtual channels are restricted – most likely duplicate controls from your existing Citrix app deployment.  You also have to ensure pre-authentication scans are valid, and in some cases require certain OS patch levels to maintain a secure perimeter from virus’ and malware.
  3. You are intrigued by VDI, or HVD’s in the datacenter but have some time to go before the user community has been transitioned.  Deploy Remote PC Access now, and their connection experience never changes once the image has been migrated into the datacenter.
  4. You do not plan on migrating to datacenter VDI or HVD’s, and so have plans for PC refresh.  Your connection model for remote access to PC’s still has the challenges of supporting VPN’s and ensuring the best experience alongside your Citrix app infrastructure. http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/6006
  5. You have invested in XenApp and want to unify physical remote desktops with the same user experience, plus use the controls and monitoring of your existing HDX infrastructure; SmartAccess, Edgesight, and HDX Insight.
  6. You own XenDesktop and are looking for new and exciting ways to leverage your FlexCast licenses more broadly and reduce costs across the IT department by collapsing desktop access infrastructure.
  7. You are looking to reduce network bandwidth and increase the user experience for remote desktop access by enabling Local App Access and leveraging it to constrain commercial web content and applications to the home PC, while business web content and application are preserved within the remote session – all painted within the same virtual desktop session visually.  http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/8987
  8. You have plans for PC refresh, but want a revolutionized image delivery model provided by XenClient/PVS.  Integrating Remote PC Access into the base central image, gives you an advantage of having a superior remote desktop experience when physically away from the locally virtualized image, increasing ROI of those assets. http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/6905  (EDIT:  As of Q4 2015, XenClient has been announced as End of Life, for more details visit our Product Lifecycle Support page)
  9. You are intrigued by XenMobile and also want to integrate physical remote desktop access alongside your SaaS and remote applications, providing the same remoting user experience and network security infrastructure without the extra DMZ overhead and management/expense of 3rd party protocol add-ins.
  10. You have a security policy that restricts BYO in the sense that VPNs must be established due to virus’, malware, and IP theft prevention. Using Receiver, Netscaler Gateway and HDX policies you overcome these threats by retaining the intellectual property at the desktop and never supporting a VPN for the virus/malware to potentially spread.

Give XenDesktop 7 a try today:  http://www.citrix.com/products/xendesktop/try.html – and in 30 minutes you should have Remote PC Access up and running.  We have two great videos by Allen Furmanski in our WW Technical Readiness teams if you need guidance on installing the broker or agent .

Thanks for reading and have an excellent day!
-Gabe