March has certainly been a challenging month for everyone around the world. At Citrix, we’ve been working hard to help our customers and their employees continue to work efficiently and productively, despite changes in where they’re working. We’re proud to be able to support business continuity for so many organizations around the globe while, at the same time, contributing to improved employee experience.
For the past three weeks, I’ve worked exclusively from my home office, and while it has been a bit of an adjustment, I am settling in. I do miss the interaction with my colleagues, but thanks to Citrix Workspace, I am still able to connect and collaborate with them. Everything I need to get work done is always available with Citrix Workspace. As long as I can remember my user name and password, I can access my workspace, including all my apps, desktops and files, from any location on any device. And I find that I’m actually more productive because I’m no longer commuting two hours or more each day to the office. From an employee experience perspective, it’s a nice perk to take the short walk downstairs to have lunch with my two young boys!
For the month of March, our product team launched a ton of new Citrix Workspace features and services. Here are some of the highlights:
Business Continuity Programs to Help Keep Your Business Going
To help our customers rapidly expand their Citrix deployments to support new work from home initiatives, we have enabled our sales and partner teams with new tools, programs and services. These affordable programs not only assist with rapid license procurement, but also offer Citrix Managed Services for those customers who may require short-term servicing, including 24×7 monitoring and administration.
We know that COVID-19 has caused worldwide disruptions to business entities of all kinds. We’re here to help. Learn about the resources we have available, and please contact your local Citrix representative or Citrix Partner representative for more information.
Tech Preview: On-Prem Microapps using the Connector Appliance for Cloud Services
We are pleased to announce that the Connector Appliance is now available as a public Tech Preview, enabling the use of the Jira and HTTP microapps to connect to on-prem systems of record.
What is it?
The Connector Appliance enables a key use case for microapps, where the system of record is within the customer’s network rather than external, as a SaaS app. Initial use cases include the Jira microapp and the HTTP integration microapp, where customers can connect to their own internal REST/JSON systems (web servers).
How does a customer sign up for this public Tech Preview?
Customers who want to harness the connector appliance for on-prem microapps will need to enable this functionality within their microapps integration configuration page within Citrix Cloud. All customers with a microapps service have access to the Connector Appliance. Learn more here.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
Last week we released the latest version (2003) of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. For a complete list of features and descriptions, please check out the announcement blog post. Here’s a quick summary of the highlights:
- ICA and the Gateway service Rendezvous can help Citrix admins reduce the number of Cloud Connectors required to support access through the Citrix Gateway Service, which can help reduce costs because you’ll need fewer Cloud Connectors than before. With the Rendezvous protocol the ICA traffic goes directly from the VDA to Gateway Service without having to go through the Cloud Connector first. Learn more here.
- Data masking with Citrix Scout enables the Citrix admin to mask sensitive data in the Scout bundle, such as log files and environment information files, before uploading them to Citrix. Learn more here.
- Citrix provisioning for VMware Cloud on AWS (coming soon) enables admins to easily extend Citrix workloads in vSphere as needed between on-prem deployments or within VMware-based clouds.
- The Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service has achieved SOC 2 compliance certification.
Workspace App for Windows (version 2002)
App Protection
App Protection is a new add-on capability that provides enhanced security when using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. The feature prevents keylogging and screen-capturing malware from compromising clients’ apps and data, including confidential information such as user credentials and proprietary data displayed on the screen. The feature mitigates internal and external threats by preventing users and third-party attackers from taking screenshots and from using keyloggers to glean and exploit sensitive information. Learn more here.
Installer enhancement
In earlier releases, if an admin tried to install the Citrix Workspace app on a system that has a user-installed instance of the app, the installation was blocked. With this release, the admin can now override the user-installed instance of the Citrix Workspace app and successfully continue with the installation.
Enhancement to Citrix Workspace Updates
In earlier releases, if an admin installed the Citrix Workspace app, a worker who was not an admin couldn’t update it. With this release, a person who is not an admin can update Citrix Workspace app on an admin-installed instance by right-clicking the Citrix Workspace app icon in the notification area and selecting Check for Updates. Check out the Citrix Workspace app for Windows Client release 2002 for more detailed information.
Workspace app 1912 LTSR for Windows
Citrix Workspace app 1912 Long Term Service Release (LTSR) for Windows is now available! You can upgrade to Citrix Workspace app 1912 LTSR for Windows from Version 4.9 or later, either by using Citrix Workspace Updates or from the Citrix Downloads page.
Workspace App for HTML 5 2002
Have you ever wanted to redirect USB devices with the Citrix Workspace app for HTML5? Many of you have, and we’ve heard your feedback. Now, you can redirect USB devices to your remote sessions in a Chrome browser with the Citrix Workspace app for HTML5 version 2002 onward.
For example, consider a USB printer that you want to use to print. Once you redirect the printer, you can just print via the remote session. Without USB redirection, you would have to download the file to your client and then print it. Learn more here.
Citrix Endpoint Management (CEM)
The Citrix Endpoint Management product team has added a number of new features including:
- Enhanced Enrollment Profiles from a single Endpoint Management instance means IT can mix and match enrollment modes (MDM, MDM + MAM, MAM-only, MDM only, Intune UEM, etc.) from a single platform deployment.
- Android Enterprise as default enrollment mode for Android device types is something we’ve been working up to for a while now. Citrix Endpoint Management now makes this transition easier for IT with support for an automated solution that allows customers to migrate from Device Administrator to Android Enterprise without re-enrollment. We know you are going to love this one!
- MacOS UEM enhancements include improved on-boarding and new security policies. For enrollment, IT can now send users an enrollment invitation as well as an installation link. New security policies include wired network policies and privacy policies for the end users (camera access, screen recording, and full disk access). We’ve also enhanced security policies for FileVault 2 and App Configuration.
- Citrix Endpoint Management console redesign is under way. With Phase 1 complete, we’ve added improved workflows and support for in-product notifications and tutorials. The redesign will provide a more simplified experience for IT with a focus on third-party platform level management integration including Android Enterprise, iOS, macOS, Windows and Chrome. Here’s an example of the in-product notifications and tutorials:
Check out our on-demand webinar with the Citrix Endpoint Management team, which covers these features and much more.
COVID-19 (coronavirus) Business Updates
For those of you looking for COVID-19 related business updates and frequently asked questions, visit our business continuity resource page where we’ve compiled insights, tips and best practices designed to keep your employees and systems safe and secure and your operations running. We’ll continue to develop our products and support our customers through these challenges. Please reach out to your local Citrix rep or Citrix Partner rep to let us know how we can help!
