Citrix XenDesktop on AWS

The market-leading desktop and application virtualization solution, Citrix XenDesktop, now runs on the market-leading public cloud, AWS.

By delivering virtual desktops and applications through XenDesktop and XenApp running on AWS, IT administrators are able to provide a powerful desktop and application virtualization solution with a cost as low as one penny per hour per user for IaaS capacity. For details, see the white paper Scalability and Economics of XenApp on Amazon Cloud. Leveraging AWS provides IT the ability to reallocate upfront costs of a large physical hardware infrastructure purchase into an on-demand operating expense model distributed over an extended timeframe. The instant availability of cloud-based resources, coupled with automation templates, dramatically reduces the implementation time previously allocated for procuring, racking and cabling physical servers.

Deploying XenDesktop/XenApp on AWS provides the enterprise with on-demand capacity and massive scalability, a rich multimedia experience over any network, and self-service applications with nearly universal endpoint device support ranging from desktops to laptops to tablets and smartphones. Session and application virtualization technologies make it easy for customers to centrally manage applications using any combination of local and hosted delivery to best fit their unique requirements. Desktop virtualization simplifies application management and brings unprecedented levels of scalability to increase cost savings and datacenter efficiency.

To assist with design and deployment, Citrix and Amazon Web Services have developed and released a Reference Architecture and Implementation Guide for XenDesktop and XenApp within the AWS public cloud. These detailed technical whitepapers will benefit enterprises who want to leverage the capacity of AWS to deliver cloud-hosted apps and desktops – with all of the agility and economic advantages that the public cloud brings. Service providers who want to focus on their core business of providing high-value hosted desktop and app services, while leveraging the scale and reach of the AWS public cloud infrastructure, will find these guides necessary reading.  The Reference Architecture and Implementation Guide are in addition to other community-based resources and tools that Citrix and Amazon have provided, including AWS CloudFormation templates to enable the automated installation and configuration of the platform.