Please refer to the sections below to learn which features are available with various Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops offerings and versions. With Citrix Cloud, some features may require components to be installed on-premises.
For information specific to the latest on-premises release, please see the . For more information on the 7.15 LTSR baseline and compatible and excluded components and features, refer to the product documentation.
Stay up to date on new and upcoming technologies and features of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server-based virtual applications (Server-based published applications) Deploy Windows, web, or Linux applications enabling secure access from a wide range of devices. The application performs as if it were installed locally on the device. |
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| Server-based virtual desktops (Windows and Linux hosted-shared desktops) Highly-scalable, multi-user virtual desktops that provide the flexibility and mobility benefits of desktop virtualization while maximizing IT control through enhanced security and simplified management. |
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| VDI (Pooled and dedicated) Desktop operating systems, such as Windows 10, Windows 7, and Linux, are hosted in the datacenter and securely delivered to users on-demand. These desktops can be made available in a pooled fashion from a common base image or dedicated to users for personalization to meet the needs of advanced users. |
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| Server-based VDI Enables enterprises and service providers to deliver to an individual user a single session, server-based virtual desktop either on-premises or from the cloud. |
*public cloud not available |
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| Remote PC Access Provide secure remote access to physical PCs and laptops leveraging the full HDX experience without SSL VPNs or the need to migrate desktops to the datacenter. |
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| VM-hosted applications Some applications are only compatible with a desktop OS rather than a server OS. With VM-hosted apps, the app can be hosted on individual desktop VMs and published for seamless delivery to users just like a server-hosted virtual app. |
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| Support for Universal Apps based on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Universal Apps are modern, interactive applications designed to work on a wide variety of the latest Windows devices. Seamlessly deliver apps based on this new flexible platform from both Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 to any device. |
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| Content publishing Provide users access to content, including web sites and documents, from within the same Citrix interface that they access their apps and desktops. |
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| Support for Microsoft App-V Integration Microsoft App-V integration enables admins to distribute App-V applications to virtual desktops or servers through the Citrix Studio console without requiring a separate App-V server and database infrastructure. App-V applications can also share a common isolation environment for intercommunication. |
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| Policy-based access control with templates Policies enable administrators to control application and desktop delivery, availability and performance based on user, group, device, IP address range or other criteria. Policies can be used to control access to peripherals (drives, printers, clipboard, audio, COM ports), optimize performance (bandwidth limits, feature availability, latency reduction), and even enforce connection limits (number of sessions per user, per application, or both). Templates provide starting points for settings based on desired use-case such as maximum server scalability or branch/remote workers. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDX user experience optimization Delivers a superior high-definition user experience on any device, over any network. With Citrix HDX, the virtual experience rivals a local PC, even when using multimedia, real-time voice and video collaboration, USB peripherals (like smart cards and drawing/signature tablets) and 3D graphics. |
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| HDX Adaptive Transport / Enlightened Data Transport (EDT) Enlightened Data Transport is a new transport layer for ICA over UDP and is designed to provide users with the best possible experience regardless of if they are on the LAN or a high-latency WAN. Performance improvements are realized across all virtual channels including up to 10x faster file transfers, 5x faster print times and 2x more session responsiveness with improved audio and video. |
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| HDX 3D Pro HDX 3D Pro is a set of specialized technologies that enable the delivery of 3D professional graphics applications from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. HDX 3D Pro works with any hypervisor, cloud, device, or GPU, enabling customers the best possible experience with the flexibility of choice. |
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| Thinwire The modern Thinwire display remoting technology in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops maximizes server scalability while providing a great user experience for mainstream business applications running on modern versions of Windows, whether delivered to newer or older endpoint devices. |
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| Optimization for Microsoft Teams desktop client Citrix optimizes the delivery of voice, video and telephony features of a fully native Microsoft Teams client within a virtualized environment. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops maximizes server scalability by redirecting multi-media capabilities to the client for a high-performance user experience. |
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| Optimized web-based Microsoft Teams By leveraging Browser Content Redirection within Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, the embedded Teams browser content can be redirected to the client. This enables audio and video processing occur on the endpoint to provide the best possible Teams experience within a virtualized environment. |
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| HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Skype for Business The HDX RealTime Optimization Pack optimizes the delivery of voice, video and telephony features of Skype for Business when hosted on Citrix Virtual Apps or Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. The Optimization Pack maximizes server scalability to minimize TCO and supports advanced features such as H.264 SVC, QoE reporting, and interop with third-party transcoders, bridges, gateways and audio recording systems. |
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| Cisco Jabber Optimization (Provided and supported by third-party) Optimize Cisco Jabber in virtual app and desktop environments with the Cisco Virtualization Experience Media Edition (VXME). Media processing is offloaded to the endpoint device for the best possible user experience and maximum server scalability. |
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| Avaya One-X Optimization Designed to run in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environments for optimized delivery of HD-quality voice and video. |
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| Windows Media Redirection Windows Media redirection controls and optimizes the way servers deliver streaming audio and video to users. By playing the media run-time files on the client device rather than the server, Windows Media redirection reduces the bandwidth requirements for playing multimedia files. Windows Media redirection improves the performance of Windows Media player and compatible players running on virtual Windows desktops. |
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| Flash Redirection Adobe Flash content accessed via published applications is offloaded from the server and redirected to the user’s device (Windows or Linux) reducing resource consumption and improving performance. |
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| H.264-enhanced HDX SuperCodec The HDX SuperCodec is a blend of modern codec technologies that enables HDX to use the best compression method for each different type of content on the screen. Citrix was the first vendor to leverage H.264 codec technology with virtual desktops and we’ve continued to enhance our H.264 technology to deliver higher frame rates, top quality video and 3D graphics, and best-in-class bandwidth efficiency. |
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| H.265-enhanced HDX SuperCodec Citrix is the only vendor to make use of H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding), the latest industry-standard for video compression, within virtual apps and desktops for hardware acceleration of remote graphics and videos. |
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| HDX Mobile HDX Mobile improves the experience of Citrix users working in supported Windows applications and desktops on mobile devices. HDX includes a native interface control channel allowing Windows apps to be re-factored for a touch experience while leveraging device features such as multi-touch gestures and native menu controls. |
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| Session linger Keeps the user's session connection open after the user closes the app to provide a quick app reconnect or enable the user to open a new app without repeating the logon process. |
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| Local App Access Permit Windows apps local to the endpoint device to be seamlessly displayed within a full-screen virtual desktop session even though they are installed and running locally. |
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| Citrix Casting Citrix Casting allows users to securely and seamlessly move Citrix virtual app and desktop sessions from a mobile device to any display connected to Citrix Ready workspace hub. |
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| Citrix Ready workspace hub Citrix Ready workspace hub a cost effective, high performance enterprise grade thin-client developed on the Raspberry Pi platform. |
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| Citrix X1 Mouse A purpose-built wireless Bluetooth mouse for use while connecting to apps and desktops from iOS and Android devices. Enables precise interaction while providing an enhanced mobile experience that can often replace the need to work from a laptop or desktop. |
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| Single Sign-on with SAML Integrate StoreFront directly with a SAML Identity Provider for a true single sign-on solution to resources. |
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| Web-based self-service password reset Citrix StoreFront simplifies the set-up and configuration of self-service password reset. An intuitive, web-based, self-service portal allows end users to easily and quickly unlock or reset their domain password. |
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| Citrix SD-WAN for WAN optimization Significantly improves Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops capacity and performance over the WAN while providing a unified platform that accelerates applications across public and private networks, improving performance and end user experience. Citrix SD-WAN VPX (WANOP edition) appliances are included for branch offices. Citrix SD-WAN appliances for datacenter is purchased separately. |
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| Citrix SD-WAN Plug-in Software-based, network accelerator client that runs on Windows laptops and workstations offering accelerated app performance from anywhere, not just offices with Citrix SD-WAN appliances. |
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| HDX MultiStream ICA Provides the option of delivering HDX virtual channels over up to four TCP/IP streams and two UDP streams. This gives customers full flexibility for Quality of Service (QoS) routing over the network and provide superior audio/visual quality without disrupting other HTTP traffic. |
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| Browser Content Redirection Redirects the full contents of a web browser to be rendered on the client for maximum server scalability and optimal user experience. | |||
| HTML5 Video Redirection Offload HTML5 video content to the endpoint device for internal sites that are controlled by IT. This provides the best possible user experience for rich content while also maintaining maximum server scalability. |
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| Universal Print Driver Set of generic print drivers that can be used by any printer device as an alternative to the standard printer vendor/model driver. |
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| Universal Print Server Optional server component that is installed on a Windows print server to process print jobs from Citrix Virtual App and Desktop sessions. |
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| Citrix Profile Management Comprehensive profile handling and optimization including streaming, inclusion/exclusion, synchronization and reporting. |
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| Pre-launch Creates a local-like app launch experience by expediting the session creation process. With pre-launch, a session waits for the user in an active or disconnected state, enabling quick, instant-on app access to an already active app session making for a fast and local-like app launch experience. |
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| Workspace Environment Management (WEM) WEM adds incredible value to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployments by optimizing the user experience, accelerating user logins, improving manageability of the user environment, and saving customers money with improved server scalability. |
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| Citrix ITSM ServiceNow Adapter The Citrix ITSM Adapter for ServiceNow is a cloud service that provides single point of integration between Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops to ServiceNow, enabling automation of common tasks in the enterprise with out of the box workflows aimed at improving efficiency, compliance and productivity. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citrix Provisioning Simplifies management for deployments of all sizes, physical or virtual, by streaming Windows and Linux OS image workloads. This reduces the amount of required shared storage and dramatically simplifies the ability to patch and update machines with fast rollout and fast rollback functionality exclusive to Provisioning Services. |
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| User Personalization Layers Integrated technology that captures user customizations, providing a persistent experience to users logging into non-persistent machines. |
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| Citrix Provisioning Accelerator Running Citrix Hypervisor along with Citrix Provisioning and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops allows caching of streamed VM data on hypervisor hosts. This cache improves VM performance, especially in large environments, while also reducing network consumption and conserving resources on the Citrix Provisioning servers. |
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| Citrix Machine Creation Image management and provisioning control from within the Citrix Studio console for simplified administration, especially beneficial in a public or hybrid cloud deployment. Integrates directly with APIs of public clouds and hypervisors to streamline management. |
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Citrix App Layering *User Layers and Multiple platforms requires Premium |
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| Microsoft Azure Azure has been identified as the strategic public cloud vendor for Citrix solutions. Cloud provisioning on Azure enables IT to dynamically provision app and desktop workloads in Microsoft Azure from their on-premises deployment or deploy a new environment entirely within Azure. |
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| Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop Supports the deployment of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workloads on Microsoft Azure as part of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop, including Windows 10 multi-session. |
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| Azure Government Supports the deployment of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workloads on Microsoft Azure Government |
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| Azure Germany Supports the deployment of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workloads on Microsoft Azure Germany |
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| Amazon Web Services (AWS) Hybrid cloud provisioning enables IT to dynamically provision app and desktop workloads from Amazon Web Services. |
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| Power Management for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Power management support for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with the Citrix Cloud Virtual Apps and Desktops service deliver a better way to work with Google Cloud instances. With this new innovation, you can now create hosting connections to GCP, create managed machine catalogs, browse your GCP resources directly from the Citrix Studio UI, and provide full power management control to your administrators. |
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| Citrix Hypervisor Easily integrate with a Citrix Hypervisor virtualization solution for provisioning machines and the flexibility to expand or change your infrastructure at any time. Citrix Hypervisor vGPU sharing provides the best possible graphics experience when virtualizing 3D applications. |
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| Hyper-V with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) Easily integrate with your existing Hyper-V virtualization solution for provisioning machines and the flexibility to expand or change your infrastructure at any time. |
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| VMware vSphere Easily integrate with your existing vSphere virtualization solution for provisioning machines and the flexibility to expand or change your infrastructure at any time. |
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| Nutanix Acropolis Integration within Citrix Studio offers built-in virtualization for a turnkey hyperconverged infrastructure solution that simplifies deployment and reduces infrastructure costs. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal enterprise app store (StoreFront) Aggregate resources from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops in one place providing self-service access to Windows applications and desktops and internal web applications through a single portal from all devices. |
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| Anonymous (unauthenticated) access Enables StoreFront to provide access to user sessions without authenticating. Generally this is used where applications themselves require their own authentication. Allows administrators to optionally make a specific Store support anonymous (unauthenticated) access. |
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| Store Customization SDK Enables admins to restrict access to applications and desktops based on the user’s location, the type of devices the user has, or smart access policies. Create and define business logic around how users launch and experience applications to tailor access to application resources so that they meet the needs of your business. |
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| Resource filtering by types or keywords Tailor the applications visible to certain users by filtering on keywords present in the application description field or property types. |
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| Favorite applications Enables users define a list of favorite or frequently used applications for fast access. IT can configure featured applications for easy access to mission-critical programs. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citrix Workspace app Citrix Workspace app is an all-in-one app where users can access their favorite Windows, Linux, mobile, SaaS, web apps, desktops and files seamlessly and instantly. Users get uninterrupted access to the apps they need while IT retains immaculate control over user accounts and password policies to strengthen corporate security. (Refer to the Citrix Workspace app feature matrix for additional details by platform). |
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| Citrix Receiver A legacy client interface that automatically installs and configures client devices to access applications and resources meant specifically for authenticated users. Available for a wide array of OS platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. *Citrix Workspace includes the full capabilities of Citrix Receiver and more |
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| Citrix Workspace experience Workspace experience U/I is a Citrix Cloud service that enumerates and delivers all your digital workspace resources to Citrix Workspace app. On-prem customers can utilize Citrix site aggregation available in Citrix Cloud services to aggregate their on-premises virtual app and desktop deployments and provide simple two-factor authentication via time-based one-time passwords for enhanced security. For more information on Citrix Workspace experience go here. |
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| Citrix StoreFront Enables IT to create enterprise app stores that aggregate resources from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops in one place. The store created provides users with self-service access to their Windows applications and desktops through a single portal from all their devices. Admins get a single place to manage the provisioning of corporate applications and desktops for users. |
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| Clientless HTML5 Access Provides breakthrough performance for access to business applications and desktops from popular browsers, as well as Google Chrome devices. Enhances the graphics experience for both 2D and 3D applications and provides an improved audio-video experience at significantly lower bandwidth. |
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| Non-admin client installation Eliminates the need to give users “Administrator” privileges in order to install Receiver for Windows to simplify application access. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
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| FIPS compliance Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops meets Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliance. |
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| Common Criteria Certification Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7.15 LTSR meets Common Criteria Certification. * Refer to https://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/products/ for additional info |
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| 508 Compliance Citrix is committed to supporting well known accessibility standards including Section 508 compliance. |
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| SmartAccess Fine-grained context-based policy engine employs smart access policy management to balance the needs of varying use case scenarios by granting or denying individual tasks, such as printing, copy/paste or mapping drives, at a granular scenario-specific level. Provided with Citrix Gateway Universal License included in Premium. |
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| ICA Proxy via Citrix Gateway Service Hardware and software-based SSL-proxy that allows remote users to securely access data center hosted applications delivered via Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. All hosted application traffic is proxied to enable firewall traversal without requiring additional ports to be opened. ICA® Proxy provides secure access to virtual Windows apps and desktops published on Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops while keeping apps, desktops and data safely protected within the datacenter without requiring a VPN. |
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| Endpoint scanning and extensible analysis Clients are scanned against administrator-defined criteria to enforce proper configuration such as up-to-date security software and operating system hotfixes. Endpoint analysis can be extended using industry-standard development tools. |
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| Federated Authentication to Azure Active Directory Deliver secure, single sign-on to apps and desktops by authenticating to Azure active directory. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centralized application delivery Applications are configured to execute on the servers in the data center. Apps and data are maintained in the data center and never on the users’ devices, improving security and compliance. |
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| Centralized desktop delivery Server-based and VDI desktops reside in the data center. Delivery in this manner means that the user experience of a full desktop is preserved regardless of a user’s device. |
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| Peripheral connection control Allows admins to define policies that control data transferred between the virtual session and the end user device. Restricts whether hard drives, printers, USB, COM ports, and the clipboard are mapped for a user. |
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| Session watermarking Security policy to display a text-based watermark on an app or desktop session to deter and track data theft. |
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App Protection * Must be purchased as an add-on for on-premises Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops |
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| ShareFile integration Integrate ShareFile content with an optimized on-demand experience for file access and collaboration. Administrators control security policies and end user presentation to meet compliance or data sovereignty needs. |
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| TLS/SSL encryption Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption ensures that all application delivery communications are secure. |
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| AES support Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is required by many government agencies and organizations with strict security requirements. |
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| Trusted server configuration Similar to Internet Explorer’s “trusted web sites” feature, Trusted Server Configuration prevents users from accessing unauthorized or un-trusted servers. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
Active Directory support |
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Federated Authentication Service Integrates with StoreFront and SAML-based identity providers (i.e. Azure AD, Okta, Ping, etc) via Citrix Gateway (previously NetScaler) to deliver secure, single sign-on to apps and desktops while also simplifying account management of contractors, partners and employees who utilize B2B integration. |
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Multi-factor authentication |
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Kerberos authentication |
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Smart card support |
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Passthrough authentication |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
Centralized management consoles |
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| Citrix Cloud-Based Management Management infrastructure hosted by Citrix, which guarantees an up-to-date management experience supporting the latest features. Also allows for an easy addition of other Citrix Cloud services, like Content Collaboration and Endpoint Management, with shared capabilities across the services. |
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Application Groups & Tagging |
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Active Directory Group Policy integration |
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Delegated administration |
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Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) integration |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Scale Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops has been tested and proven in global enterprise implementations supporting tens of thousands of users. |
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| Local Host Cache Allows users to connect to their applications and desktops in the event that the connection to centralized management is broken. |
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| No single point of failure Multiple options for redundancy with the required databases, controllers, and other infrastructure components. |
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| Effortless Multilocation Management Easily Expand to and manage multiple resource locations, across different public and private clouds, as well as Citrix Workspace Appliances. |
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| Citrix Cloud Service Level Agreement (SLA) Cloud services are designed using industry best practices to achieve a high degree of service availability as defined here. |
| Feature | Virtual Apps and Desktops service |
2009 Current Release | 1912 Long Term Service Release |
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| Citrix AutoScale Citrix admins can support schedule-based scaling, load-based scaling or a combination of both to automatically power workloads on and off based on peak and non-peak times or loads. This helps with cost-savings and capacity utilization by powering on workloads as needed. |
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| Citrix Director Citrix Director provides a single web-based console where IT help desk admins can monitor, troubleshoot and assist users with virtual desktops and apps for thousands of users as easily as for one. The same console can be used to assist users with delivered apps and desktops. |
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| Advanced analytics Trend analysis available through the Citrix Director dashboard give admins insight into machine failures, etc. allowing escalation teams to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues. |
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| Zones Define how users are able to connect to apps and desktops based on criteria such as where the user is currently connecting from, what data center the app resides in or the location of the user profile. IT can deliver the best possible user experience while meeting business objectives. |
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| Load Balancing and Connection Throttling Load Management measures the server load and determines which server to select upon user logon, under the current environment conditions. Connection Throttling prevents new servers from being overloaded when many users logon to the environment at once by automatically controlling server load. This ensures users are distributed across the available virtual application servers and creates a consistent, reliable user access experience. |
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| Connection control Administrators can set a limit on the number of total simultaneous connections that each user can have to the environment. Administrators can also prevent users from launching more than one instance of the same published application. |
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| Cloud-based license management Flexible license allocation controls to allow administrators to release and reassign licenses as organizational needs change |
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On-prem license usage monitoring *Must have a Citrix Cloud Account to Enable functionality |
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| Application user load Limits the number of users allowed to connect to each specific hosted application, helping enforce licensing requirements for the application. |
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| Citrix Hypervisor VM portability Full-featured hypervisor including GPU virtualization and live migration functionality of virtual workloads from one physical server to another without interrupting user operation. |
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| App and Desktop Probing Proactively monitors the health of apps and desktops by scheduling automated launches to test overall system or site health. |
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| System monitoring and reporting Citrix Director allows admins to efficiently manage and monitor system resources and generate reports on application and server availability, performance and capacity. |
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| Historical performance trending Analyzes performance trends for proactive capacity planning and deployment optimization. With up to a full year of trend data available, detailed performance management and capacity management allowing you to keep track of your infrastructure. |
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| Custom Reporting Build your own reports within Director as required when you need something more than what the built-in Trends reports offer. An intuitive interface provides access to a wide variety of data points. Reports can be saved and later shared as required along with the corresponding ODATA query. |
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| SCOM Alerts Surface alerts from SCOM through the Director web-based console for improved overall visibility. |
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| Proactive Notification and Alerting Set warning and critical thresholds for key metrics, such as CPU, memory and network and receive notifications when they are hit. Alerts can further be integrated with standard SNMP systems. |
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| User experience network analysis Network analysis provides by Citrix HDX Insight, this advanced feature makes it possible to isolate and manage your HDX network performance. |
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| Session Recording Records the on-screen activity of any user session hosted from a VDA for Server OS or Desktop OS, over any type of connection, subject to corporate policy and regulatory compliance. |
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| Configuration logging Tracks administrative changes made to configure deployments, by whom and at what time they were made to simplify and accelerate troubleshooting and ensure audit compliance. |
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| Citrix Insight Services Collect and upload diagnostic information to cis.citrix.com from your deployment to proactively prevent issues and quickly resolve issues when they occur. Health checks analyze the environment to spot misconfigurations, identify security updates and advise best practice. |