The Citrix Session

With the increased popularity of mobility, hybrid work, and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives, the IT risk profile has changed. At Citrix, we constantly strive to make our products even more secure. Whether it’s providing security controls for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops administrators with offerings like app protection, or enhancing the architecture of our products, security has always been our guiding principle.

Today, we are announcing a preview of an important architecture change to the way Citrix Workspace app for Windows handles ICA files during the launch of a virtual app or desktop. To reduce the attack surface, ICA files from Citrix Workspace app for Windows will now be stored in memory.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton
Guest: Aayush Agarwal

As organizations around the globe look to implement permanent flexible work initiatives, Citrix continues to be dedicated to enabling a work-from-anywhere approach to help keep you connected and secure, no matter where you are or what device you’re on.

The latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7, version 2106 current release, is now available. Combine that with the latest cloud enhancements from our Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service, and you’ve got innovation to bring the IT agility you need to adapt to change, deal with new work scenarios, and keep your business running smoothly.

Let’s look at what’s new.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton 
Guest: Paul Carley

In this episode Bill and Ben cover items they have learned over the past couple of years working with customers who are implementing Citrix Cloud with Microsoft Azure. 

They give us real world insight into what to look out for and how to solve many of the challenges you will face. 

Host: Bill Sutton
Co-Host: Ben Roger

Across the Eastern Seaboard, millions of Americans experienced the consequences of compromised cybersecurity. Earlier this month a ransomware attack led to the shutdown of a section of one of the nation’s critical sources of fuel, resulting in gas shortages and panic in one of the most populous regions of the country. This breach is but the latest in a line of malicious activity against both the public and private sector — where bad actors seek to access sensitive information or wreak financial havoc on individuals, businesses, and communities in exchange for monetary gain. But in preventing attacks like these in the future, should baseline security be the only consideration?

Host:  Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Ben Rogers
Guest: Mike Fouts

On June 7, 2021, Microsoft announced the change of the Windows Virtual Desktop product name to Azure Virtual Desktop. Learn about the product name change below, what this means for customers, and how Citrix delivers value for it.

Host:  Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Ben Rogers
Guest: Allen Furmanski 

Citrix is focused on delivering digital workspace solutions that enhance employee experience, especially for remote workers. As a Citrix employee, I benefit greatly from using our own products as the foundation of my daily work routine. As you can see from the image below, everything I need to get work done is right at my fingertips, delivered through a single user interface (UI).

Citrix Workspace enables me to access all my applications, virtual desktops, distributed file stores, integrated SaaS workflows, and more securely, from any device and/or location. There are many reasons Citrix is a great place to work, but having access to our own innovative products and solutions is at the top of my list.

A great work experience leads to engaged, productive employees who are can do their best work. This past month, Citrix received numerous awards and recognition for being one of the best places to work.

• Number 60 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For
• Fortune Best Workplaces in Technology list (No. 11 ranking among 30 companies)
• Earlier this year, the company was certified as a Great Place to Work in Costa Rica, India, Singapore, and the U.S.

This industry recognition is great validation that not only is Citrix a leader at providing employee experience solutions for our customers, but also for our own employees.

In April, our team of Workspace engineers added some great new features to help secure modern applications and user endpoints. Let’s take a look:

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton
Guest: Justin Maeder

The modern workplace has changed dramatically with the COVID-19 pandemic, and organizations everywhere are adopting digital workspace solutions to ensure business productivity, continuity, agility, and security, all while lowering costs.

Digital workspaces are not a new idea, but, too often, deployment and operational complexity have kept organizations from realizing the benefits they offer. Fortunately, there are solutions that can help to reduce this complexity significantly.

Building a simple, secure, and performant digital workspace solution requires choosing the right technologies at every layer of the stack. In our seven-part blog series, we’ll discuss how running Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on the Nutanix Hybrid Cloud Platform simplifies your solution, delivering an excellent user experience, improved productivity, greater business agility, lower risk, and higher ROI.

Each installment of the series will address a key aspect of a complete digital workspace solution. We’ll discuss the traditional challenges that administrators face and explain how a Citrix-on-Nutanix hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud solution helps you to avoid the pitfalls that have bedeviled admins for years, resulting in interminable delays, substandard performance, poor user experience, and excessive operational overhead and costs.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host:  Bill Sutton

The proliferation of SaaS, web, and cloud-based tools in the workplace has changed how we work. No matter what the job, there seems to be an app or cloud service to make it simpler. While these tools enhance productivity, there are unintended downsides around security.

Most of these tools need a set of credentials for usage. According to Okta, the average company uses 88 apps. While each user only uses a few of those apps, there are still a lot of credentials for each employee to remember.

To manage this complexity, users take shortcuts. For example, they reuse passwords across services. They also use common phrases that are easy to guess. Many users don’t even try to make it hard on attackers — “123456” was the most common password of 2020.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton
Co-Host: Ben Rogers
Guest: Eric Kenny

Springtime is here (at least for us folks in the Northern Hemisphere). For many areas, it’s a time when landscapes start regrowth after the cold, harsh winter months. Trees regain their green leaves. Flowers begin blooming bright. Spring is also a time to do some tidying up — the house, the yard, the car. It’s also a great time to tidy up your IT environment and put a plan in place to keep it running its best. Citrix Analytics for Performance is the perfect tool to help do just that. It can help you to proactively optimizing any Citrix virtual app and desktop delivery infrastructure.

Citrix Analytics for Performance enables admins to maximize the investment in their on-premises and/or cloud-based Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environments. It visually surfaces the answers to fundamental questions such as, “Which users are not experiencing excellent performance and why?” and “What is the true availability of the environment and why?” In a world with an increasingly distributed workforce, Citrix Analytics for Performance is uniquely positioned to provide organizations with the insights for success. Companies like Compeer Financial have realized substantial value with Citrix Analytics for Performance when they needed it most.

Speaking of value, Citrix Analytics for Performance has a very active roadmap of innovative capabilities. In this blog post, I’ll dive into key capabilities we’ve released over the past few months, including use cases. They’re all very helpful in “tidying up” your environment and keeping it running its best.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton
Co-Host: Ben Rogers
Guest: Allen Furmanski

Linux-based devices have become more widespread as more people work remotely. From thin clients to Raspberry Pis, Citrix is committed to bringing the latest feature enhancements to all devices.

With this in mind, we are excited to announce the release of Citrix Workspace app for Linux 2103, which includes several new features to simplify admin management and improve the user experience. Let’s take a look!

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Bill Sutton
Co-Host: Ben Rogers