Early last weekend, I was cycling along the leafy roads of Boston’s MetroWest suburbs when I came upon an especially bucolic site. Scores of glossy, reddish brown chickens filled a large field. Some chickens clustered under the hen houses, a few stayed inside. Others roamed in small groups. Intrepid ones tested their boundaries, and a handful of solitary birds were doing their own thing. All seemed happy. And why wouldn’t they be?

Studies have shown that chickens with access to a fresh air and natural light, places to hunt and peck for insects and seeds, and the opportunity to stretch their legs — and wings — are healthier and more productive than their caged counterparts.

Then I made a connection. The chickens were going about their morning in different ways, but to the same end: laying eggs. That’s their job. Isn’t that the rationale of employers, like mine, that offer employees flex time and the ability to work remotely? As long as tasks are completed on time and with the desired result, it doesn’t matter if they’re working from a cubicle or a café.

This Washington Post article has more information than you may want on raising cage-free chickens, but it’s interesting. And for me, it identified the main concern of those with responsibility for free range chickens or today’s mobile workforce; the Free Range Employee. Security.

Our mission at Citrix is to deliver secure apps and data anywhere, anytime, on any device. We also define “work” as something you do, not a place where you go. I think we were a bit ahead of the curve on that. The mobile workforce has grown beyond a trend and gained momentum that exemplifies Sir Isaac’s second law. The mobile workforce has been called a movement and a state of mind.

But as this CIO opinion piece points out, workforce mobility is about far more than the familiar and dated, in my view, BYOD narrative. With the freedom of wherever working comes responsibility and challenges. Security is at the top of that list. Citrix continues to innovate secure solutions that meet the requirements of how many of us work in 2018: dynamically, asynchronously, and unconventionally.

One of these advances is the Citrix secure digital perimeter, which integrates the company’s three lines of business: Workspace, Networking, and Analytics.

I will talk about the Citrix secure digital perimeter at a Citrix Synergy 2018 Meet the Experts session on Wednesday, May 9 from 3:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. in Synergy Park, Level 1, Hall B.

Citrix Secure Digital Perimeter
Citrix secure digital perimeter expands the traditional security perimeter to include SaaS, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. It is an essential enabler of the Citrix Secure Digital Workspace strategy to integrate technologies, platforms, devices, and clouds, and secure and simplify IT management. Users, apps, devices and networks are surrounded and protected by a secure digital perimeter, taking a “people-centric” approach that differentiates Citrix.

In combination, Citric Secure Digital Workspace and Citrix secure digital perimeter enable organizations to deliver employees personalized access to the relevant systems and tools they need, when and how they need them.

A secure digital perimeter framework includes the complete, integrated portfolio of Citrix virtualization, networking, mobility, data and security services. It provides three important benefits for Citrix workspaces: Simplified Control; 360 Visibility, and; Intelligent Analytics.

Secure digital perimeter use cases include:

  • Contextual and secure access
  • Mobile and device security
  • Malware/ransomware protection with user security
  • Secure collaboration with data security and intellectual property (IP) protection
  • Governance, risk and compliance management
  • Business continuity with Application Security and high availability
  • User behavior analytics and proactive security insights
  • Contextual performance for improved end user experience

If you are attending Citrix Synergy 2018, I hope that you can attend my Meet the Experts session. If you can’t make it to Anaheim, below are some resources that provide more background. And I encourage you to contact your Citrix account representative or partner to learn more.

Resources:
Citrix Cloud services: https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-cloud/
Citrix Workspace: https://www.citrix.com/secure-digital-workspace.html
Citrix Networking: https://www.citrix.com/networking/
Citrix Analytics: https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-cloud/form/citrix-analytics/