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#Citrix #BYOD Architecture overview – #XenMobile, #Mobility
I must say that this blog post is of course Citrix “twisted”, but I really like it! And it shows how Citrix provides a pretty complete offering in order to deliver Mobility- and BYO-compliant services.
The Citrix blog written by Christopher Campbell makes sense and I also agree that a picture is worth a thousand words! 🙂
I’m going to make this real easy and simple. As my grandfather would say “A picture is worth a thousand words”.
If you’re a XenDesktop or XenApp customer this is what your environment probably looks like.
Now this is what you need to enable BYOD and add that MAM, MDM, MIM (Data) and overall EMM functionality you’re looking for.
This is what your environment looks like after you enable BYOD.
Didn’t get that? OK, here is what BYOD looks like with multiple vendors.
Now, here is what BYOD looks like with Citrix.
Got it?
Read the whole blog post here!
//Richard
Do you really need a #BYOD policy? – via @GeneMarks
This is a really good article by Gene Marks!
Social media. Cloud computing. Gamification. SaaS. Social CRM. Virtualization. Mobile. Every year we hear of the latest technology issues facing small business owners like me. And now it’s BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Everywhere I read in the tech world it’s BYOD. That’s because with the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and mini-laptops it’s become the hot tech security issue. Whitepapers are written. Seminars are conducted. Roundtables are moderated. It’s a BYOD year.
I have 10 people in my company. And a half dozen other contractors. These people are using smartphones, tablets and laptops to access our data. We do not have a BYOD policy. Do I really need one? Do all businesses, big or small, need to really worry about this? Or is just another scare tactic from a bunch of IT guys looking to put fear into their clients’ minds and generate additional billable hours.
Hmmm.
The fact that everyone in my company has a different smartphone is of no concern to me. Why should I care if Sam prefers his iPhone but Josh likes his Droid? They are using their phones to call clients on Verizon or AT&T or whatever so I’m not exposed to any risk there. The same with texting. But uh oh…then there’s email. Am I exposed to security issues when they send and retrieve email from our server? No. That’s because we have a hosted mail server and each employee has their own login to their email account. They set up their email on their own with instructions we gave them. Viruses, spam and all the other evil things that could happen via email are (hopefully) controlled by the security software running at the server level.
#Citrix #AppController 2.6 released as part of #MobileSolutions #Bundle #BYOD
As a part of the Mobile Solutions Bundle that now is available on MyCitrix you can find a new version of AppController.
AppController 2.6 supports the following new features:
- Certificate support. When you configure AppController for the first time in the web-based management console, you can add or create certificates on the Active Directory settings page.
- Microsoft Hyper-V support. You can install the AppController 2.6 virtual machine on Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V enabled or on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012.
- Migration support to AppController 2.6. You can upgrade to AppController 2.6 from AppController 2.0 or from AppController 2.5.
- Mobile store support. You can upload mobile apps from the Apple App Store or Google Play to AppController. You can use the Citrix App Preparation Tool to wrap iOS and Android apps from the Apple App Store or Google Play. When you wrap the app, you can secure access and enforce policies. When you upload the app to AppController, you can configure the policies. You can also upload an app from the App Store or Google Play to AppController without using the App Preparation Tool.
- Secure connections to Active Directory. You can configure secure connections to Active Directory when you configure AppController 2.6 for the first time.
- ShareFile updates. In previous AppController versions, when you configured ShareFile, the domain sharefile.com was automatically appended to the domain name. In this release, the domain sharefile.com does not automatically append to the ShareFile domain name. You must enter the entire ShareFile domain name.
- Support for mobile links. You can configure mobile links to retrieve the name and description of apps automatically from the Apple App Store. For apps available through the Google Play Store, you enter the name, description and URL of the app. When you configure mobile links, links appear in Receiver with the Play Store or App Store name.
- Web proxy user name format. When you configure the web proxy, you can use either the SAMAccount format or the User Principal Name (UPN) as the user name.
Read more about it here!
//Richard
#XenMobile, #MobileSolutions – Is this what we’ve been waiting for? – #Citrix, #ZenPrise, #BYOD
Ok, so Citrix has now presented their new offering after merging Zenprise into their product portfolio. And is this what you have been waiting for?
My personal answer to that is probably yes, now you have all the capabilities (almost) out there to get your BYOx program/strategy and architecture in place or if you just want to add additional capabilities to your existing service offerings.
I must say though that the packaging is compelling and VERY interesting!
Citrix Mobile Solutions Bundle
The Citrix Mobile Solutions Bundle, which is comprised of XenMobile MDMand CloudGateway, offers a complete enterprise mobility management solution that enables IT to manage and secure devices, apps, and data.
XenMobile MDM Edition
XenMobile MDM Edition offers market leading mobile device management capabilities that deliver role-based management, configuration and security of corporate and employee-owned devices.
What I’d like to see is a roadmap where Citrix becomes an even more complete provider of technology in the Mobility segment. I still believe that Mobility is not only about smartphones and tablets and all the apps that you shall deliver to those devices and non-managed and non-corporate owned devices. There is still a need to provide device management of corporate assets that are not smartphones and tablets! And why should you have to implement another device management service/product for those.
So please Citrix = add Windows 7/8, OS X and Linux device capabilities as well in your almost complete Enterprise Mobile Management offering!
The offering is of course also today an early release where the former Zenprise product and CloudGateway is provided under the same marketing and price bundle but I’m waiting for when we have one (1) enterprise app store! And all capabilities from one technical architecture and product that you enable each capability on a need basis and are licensed accordingly.
But this is a great step for Citrix and I must say that I’m looking forward to see where this is going, I mean the feature set is pretty awesome!
Compare Features |
XenMobile MDM Edition |
Mobile Solutions Bundle |
| Enterprise MDM | ||
| Device management |  |
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| Configure policies | |
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| Security and compliance | |
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| Scalability and high-availability | |
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| Ease of administration | |
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| Provisioning and self-service enrollment | |
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| Enterprise integration | |
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| Monitor and support | |
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| Decommission devices | |
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| Secure email, browser and data sharing apps | ||
| @WorkMail | |
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| Email attachment encryption | |
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| @WorkWeb | |
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| ShareFile integration | |
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| Microsoft SharePoint integration | |
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| Mobile app containers | ||
| Mobile application management | |
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| MDX Vault | |
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| MDX Interapp | |
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| MDX Access | |
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| App wrapping | |
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| Unified app store | ||
| Enterprise app store | |
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| Follow-me apps | |
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| Identity management, single sign-on and scenario-based access control | ||
| Active Directory integration | |
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| Instant application and data provisioning | |
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| Single sign-on to apps and data | |
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| App requests | |
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| Instant application and data de-provisioning | |
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| Strong authentication | |
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| Secure remote access | |
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| Policy enforcement | |
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More information about the technologies have also been added to eDocs!
Of course also made their competition table:
Compare the Mobile Solutions Bundle to other enterprise mobility solutions
These are exciting times and I’m looking forward to play around with the whole bundle!
Read more about XenMobile/Mobile Solutions here!
//Richard
It all ADDS up with #BYOD (Assess + Design + Deploy + Support = Success)
Below you can read about a couple of webinars coming up on Citrix’s view on how to get your BYOD strategy up and running!
Cowboy consumerization is here…and it’s here to stay. You may not want to admit it, but you already have a few “outlaws” in your organization who are using their own devices, regardless of whether you allow them to or not. In fact, you probably have entire departments accessing email, apps and data on devices and through services that are not secure. The consumerization of IT is here to stay, so you may as well embrace it.
When business information is accessed by user-owned, consumer-grade devices, the right technology foundation is essential to ensure IT control. The question is where to begin. What are the business, user and IT benefits of enabling bring-your-own device (BYOD)?
The business wants to make employees more productive yet remain compliant. Users want access to all their enterprise apps and data from their many devices and IT wants to ensure security and control in a way that’s simple to manage.
Before you begin a BYOD initiative, it’s important to understand the underlying products that will become a part of your BYOD solution and their functionality and feature sets. One size does not fit all and, even though a BYOD solution may seem complex, it’s important to realize that it all boils down to addressing four key things:
- Multiple Devices – Employees are bringing their own devices (on average 3) into the workplace – whether you like it or not.
- Lots of Apps – IT have lots of them and different types (Windows, Web, SaaS and Mobile) that everyone want access to from their device.
- Unmanaged Data – Employees are..
Continue reading here!
//Richard
#Citrix #AppController 2.5 Implementation Tips – #CloudGateway, #BYOD
Great blog post by Matthew Brooks!
AppController is a component of the Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise suite that orchestrates access to Enterprise Cloud applications. Those applications may take many forms including Mobile Applications, Software-as-a-Service hosted in public clouds, and Web links. Below I provided some tips to help with the implementation of AppController 2.5 (which is the latest version as of the publishing of this blog).
System Related
Including settings such as the Hostname, SSL certificates, and Restore.
TIPs:
- Take a hypervisor level snapshot after the initial installation so that you can easily return to that base level if configuration or integrations efforts go awry.
- The hostname cannot contain special characters in the AppController certificate signing request.
- The hostname must match SSL certificate.
- The system cert must be chained to its CA/(s).
Active Directory Related
Including settings such as the Server (Domain Controller), Base DN, and Service Account credentials.
TIPs:
- The AppController only supports integration with a single domain. Multiple domains require multiple AppControllers. The NetScaler Access Gateway may be configured to allow users to access a single fully qualified domain name, yet be directed to their respective domain AppController through the use of Global Groups. See CTX116169 for more informationhttp://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116169
- All user accounts must have a first name, last name, and email address configured or they will receive an authorization error when attempting to launch applications. The bind Administrator account must also have email address configured or directory integration will fail.
- Only LDAP (TCP 389) may be configured through the wizard that must be completed initially. Thereafter LDAPS (TCP 636) may be configured through the full administration menu.
- If the server name domain name is a load balanced DNS entry the initial import may work, yet subsequent bind attempts will fail. Alternatively you may use the IP address of an LDAPS load balancer on a Netscaler with specific domain controllers configured as services. See CTX135092 for more information http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX135092
Network Related
Including settings such as the IP address, @Workweb and NTP server.
TIPs:
- Use IP private addresses as system addresses if possible. When Trust Settings are configured for NetScaler Access Gateway it does not allow SSO to public addresses. If public addresses must be used the NetScaler may be configured with an SSL Bridge to access the AppController. See NetScaler Traffic Management document for more information.
- NTP must be configured or SAML authentication may fail for SaaS sites if the time difference is significant.
- When Trust Settings are configured for NetScaler Access…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
1st Test of Webroot SecureAnywhere – #Webroot, #SecureAnywhere, #BYOD – via @WeCloud
It’s not very often that I test endpoint protection, antivirus or antimalware software. But tonight I started to have a look at Webroot and I must say that I’m really liking it!
There are some parts in particular that I like about it:
- It’s “cloud” based, so you don’t need your own costly infrastructure!
- It takes seconds to deploy to a new Windows instance
- It scanned the XenDesktop controller that I installed it on in 42 SECONDS! Wow! That’s amazing! 😀
- The footprint is close to NOTHING!
- The installer is just a couple of MB!!
- It fits into the BYOD model
First of I just started a new trial, which was really easy! Just log on to the webpage and register, then after entering your info you’re all set and ready do deploy your “agents”.
My first thought was that this is really great for environments where you’d like low footprint, quick installation and low maintenance efforts of your antivirus software. And the way that Webroot does the scanning of the files etc. is so great and makes the software so quick and neat!
This must be perfect for XenDesktop and XenApp environments is my thought!! I’ll try it our more and will let you know! And why not provide this as an option in your BYOD program?
Here are some reviews that I was given by WeCloud, and they pretty much (or actually more) confirm that this is some good software!
“Easy-to-use and excellently-designed malware protection with powerful central management and deployment features, and which should appeal to a wide range of businesses”.
Read the review here!
AV Wars (RescuTechs LLC)
“No antivirus program we tested performed better at detection and removal of rootkits and scareware.”
Read the review here!
AV Test (Independent IT-Security Institute)
“100% Protection against 0-day malware attacks, inclusive of web and e-mail threats (Real-World Testing)”
Read the review here!
[Announcing] #ShareFile 2.0 for Android – #Citrix, #BYOD
Ok, Citrix has now also released an updated version of the ShareFile app for Android to incorporate the new security features there as well!
NICE!!!! 😀
Read the Citrix blog post below for more info and source link!
I’m pleased to announce the new version of the ShareFile application for Android tablets and phones. ShareFile for Android enables secure mobile work styles by providing users with a rich follow-me-data experience while offering IT the management and control needed to ensure sensitive corporate data is secure at all times. By 2020, the workplace will evolve to the point where there will be 7 desks for every 10 office workers, with each person accessing their company’s IT network from an average of 6 different devices.
According to a new report from Forrester, an estimated 258 million workers around the world choose their own laptops and 129 million buy their own smartphones. Currently 37% of all BYOD smartphones run on Google’s Android platform. The Citrix mobile application suite balances connectivity and personal freedom, allowing employees to access everything they need to securely conduct business regardless of whether they are working from home or on the road.
New Features
Pin Passcode |
Jail Break Detection |
| Gives users easier access to their data instead of having to type their password every time they start the application. | Allows administrators to prevent their users from accessing their ShareFile data from jail broken devices. |
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Another security feature added to this release is local device encryption for improved security of sensitive data.
ShareFile in action
The Salinas Police Department Deputy….
Continue reading here!
More Than 50% of Mobile Apps Deployed Will be Hybrid – #Gartner, #BYOD
Gartner Says by 2016, More Than 50 Percent of Mobile Apps Deployed Will be Hybrid
Gartner’s 2013 Mobile and Wireless Predictions Reflect Mobility’s Impact on the Broader
With enterprises under extreme pressure from management and employees to develop and deploy mobile applications to accommodate mobile work styles and increase customer engagement, Gartner, Inc. predicts that more than 50 percent of mobile apps deployed by 2016 will be hybrid.
“Mobility has always been a separate topic for IT professionals, but it is now influencing mainstream strategies and tactics in the wider areas of technology enablement and enterprise architectures,” said Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Increasingly, enterprises are finding that they need to support multiple platforms, especially as the [bring your own device] BYOD trend gains momentum.”
To address the need for mobile applications, enterprises are looking to leverage applications across multiple platforms. The advantages of the hybrid architecture, which combines the portability of HTML5 Web apps with a native container that facilitates access to native device features, will appeal to many enterprises.
The need for context awareness in mobile applications has increased with the capabilities of mobile devices, causing developers to consider both hybrid and native architectures. For applications to leverage location information, notification systems, mapping capabilities and even on-device hardware such as the camera, the applications need to be developed using either hybrid or native architectures. This has caused enterprise developers to consider alternatives to Web application……
Continue reading here!
//Richard
The Business Case for Mobility Services – #Mobility, #BYOD, #Citrix, #Gartner
I must agree that all these mobile devices and BYOD etc. are putting challenges as well as opportunities on businesses. But there are not many out there with a clear strategy and business view on how to grasp the opportunities and WHY. Do you have a clear strategy on how to address for instance BYOD?
This video explores the business case for adopting and integrating Mobility Services into a Solution Provider’s deliverables.
And what’s also interesting in this topic of discussion is the Gartner Hype Cycle of Innovation.
This was the hype cycle for year 2012
Image Source :Givinginadigitalworld
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 