Archive
Hyperscale Invades the Enterprise and the Impact on Converged Infrastructure – via @mathiastornblom
This is really interesting! Look at this video!
In this whiteboard presentation, Wikibon Senior Analyst Stu Miniman shares how enterprise IT can learn from the architectural models of hyperscale companies. He walks through Wikibon’s definition of software-led infrastructure and how converged infrastructure solutions meet the market’s requirements.
Continue reading or watch the whole channel here!
//Richard
Upgrading to #Citrix #Receiver for #Windows – why and how?
This is something that all Citrix admins should read! How many questions don’t U get about which version of the client to use and why etc?
This document describes the various versions of Receivers for Windows, lists the reasons for upgrading, and recommends best practices for upgrading to the latest version of Receiver based on specific circumstances.
Note: The Online Plug-in 12.x will reach end of its maintenance in March 2013. Customers using Online Plug-in with XenApp 5, XenApp 6.x, XenDesktop 4.x, or XenDesktop 5.x must upgrade to the latest version of Receiver for Windows 3.X prior to that date where practical.
Citrix Receiver is the latest Citrix software you install on Windows end points to gain access to virtualized apps and desktops. It is also regularly installed on virtual desktops to enable access to virtualized apps.
The name of Citrix client software and the built-in functions are changed over the years. The clients in common use today are the Online Plug-in for Windows 12.X and the Receiver for Windows 3.X.
Where the Online Plug-in for Windows 12.X provided Web and PNAgent support, Receiver for Windows 3.X provides additional support. It can be configured for self-service access to applications, VPN-less remote access, single sign-on the Windows, Web, and SaaS applications, and has a built-in method to check for updates.
Both the Online Plug-in and Receiver have two versions.
- The Online Plug-in Web is used solely for Web access to applications and the Online Plug-in (Full) supports Web access as well as PNA Services. The Full version supported SSO, Smart Cards, and access to apps through the Start menu
The standard Receiver for Windows, CitrixReceiver.exe, can be considered is a complete replacement for the Online Plug-in Web and largely a replacement for the Online Plug-in (Full). It can be used for web access. It can be configured to access PNA Services. And it can also be used with the latest versions of StoreFront, CloudGateway (App Controller), and Access Gateway to provide a rich set of services. It contains the latest, multithread, multi-stream HDX engine.
Choose your #Citrix #NetScaler … wisely… – via @hlouwers
This is a question I get a lot and I must say that Henny Louwers did answer it well in this blog post!
I spend a lot of my time breaking down the different models of Citrix NetScaler appliances and different Software Editions within the Citrix NetScaler portfolio.
I decided to set up a blog about this since the path is usually pretty much (lengthy but) the same. This does not mean the answer is always easy because there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.
The first thing I would like to get off my chest is the following: Stop seeing/selling the Citrix NetScaler as a replacement for Secure Gateway. It is so much more than that. I often have discussions with various engineers and consultants telling me that Citrix NetScaler is so expensive for a Remote Access solution because Secure Gateway always used to be free. No offense but a Citrix NetScaler solution belongs to the networking department, not the Citrix XenApp sys admin department. Or maybe limited.
That leads me to the first difficult thing of a Citrix NetScaler project. The adoption of the Citrix NetScaler appliances to the networking guys of an organization. They need to embrace the solution to make this a success. For some reason they too see it as a ‘’Citrix’’ solution. For that reason one of the most important meetings to setup is usually with the networking guys to try to explain the L3-L7 functionality of the Citrix NetScaler solution. When they realize it competes with F5, Juniper, Cisco, etc then we are on the right track.
NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler Standard Edition
Usually the first question of a customer is regarding something simple like replacing the Remote Access solution. Since the NetScaler is going to be the main platform for publishing Citrix publications a NetScaler Gateway can be considered as a valid option. This is when I tell a customer it would be wise to spend a little extra on the NetScaler Standard Edition since this would leverage the solution be having full load balancing capabilities (among others). When you compare prices between the NetScaler Gateway and NetScaler Standard Edition you will see that the Standard Edition will be somewhat more expensive but I for one think that it is worth the difference given the feature set that come with the Standard Edition. Of course the NetScaler Gateway can always be upgraded to a NetScaler Standard Edition (or higher) if you will.
Another feature of Citrix NetScaler Standard Edition is the ability to run Citrix Web Interface on the appliance. Honestly, I do think is not really that important anymore….
Continue reading here!
//Richard
#Microsoft finds a new way to deliver a private #cloud in a box – #Azure via @maryjofoley
Interesting!!!! 🙂
It took three years from when it was first announced, but Microsoft may have found a way to deliver a private cloud in a box.
The company’s vision and strategy for doing this has gone through many twists and turns.
Microsoft’s original plan was to provide its largest partners and even a few, select enterprise users a so-called Azure Appliance. Announced in 2010, the Azure Appliances were to be carried by Dell, Fujitsu and HP. These OEMs were to provide the servers which could be installed in partner and select enterprise customers’ datacenters. Microsoft was supposed to provide and maintain Windows Azure as a service to these servers.
The only partner that ever delivered an Azure Appliance was Fujitsu, which announced availability in August 2011. But some time in the past few months, Microsoft ended up dropping its Azure Appliance plans, without ever officially announcing it was dead.
#BYOD: From optional to mandatory by 2017, says #Gartner
I agree with this great article and the analysis made by Gartner.
Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) has for some time been gaining traction in the workplace, as not only a way of freeing up IT costs but also liberalizing workers from being virtually chained, clunky, aging machines at their desks.
But latest research from Gartner suggests that by 2017, half of employers may impose a mandatory BYOD policy — requiring staffs to bring their own laptop, tablet and smartphone to work.
As an optional policy, workplaces still have an IT fallback option, but many are choosing to bring their own tablets and smartphones to work in order to work more effectively using the technology they feel more comfortable with.
Some interesting tidbits from the research:
- 38 percent of companies expect to stop providing workplace devices to staff by 2016. (PCs, such as desktops and laptops, are included in the definition of BYOD.)
- BYOD is most prevalent in midsize and larger enterprises, often generating between $500m-$5bn in revenue per year, with 2,500-5,000 employees on the roster.
- BRIC nations, such as India, China, and Brazil, will most likely already be using a personal device — typically a “standard mobile phone” — at work.
- Meanwhile, companies in the U.S. are more likely to allow BYOD than those in Europe (likely due to stronger data protection rules, see below).
- Around half of all BYOD programs provide a partial reimbursement, while full reimbursement costs “will become rare.”
- Gartner vice president David Willis says companies should “subsidize only the service plan on a smartphone.”
But there’s a problem within. Those who have yet to adopt a BYOD policy often generally cite one of two good reasons (or both): interoperability and…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Free whitepaper: Enterprise #Architecture and ITIL: Implementing Service Strategy
Have a look at this free whitepaper!
In the previous paper “Enterprise Architecture and ITIL: Where is the Value in ITIL?” Trevor Lea-Cox looked at why and under what circumstances Service Management, the focus of ITIL® is important.
Essentially Service Management is important because the concept and use of services is a powerful mechanism for structuring and managing the growth of an organization, including the IT function. As the IT function grows, IT Services reach a level of complexity where they can no longer be managed on an informal basis. ITIL provides the best practice guidelines for managing IT Services on a (progressively) more formal basis.
In this paper Trevor will:
- Review (briefly) the recommendations of ITIL for developing and managing a Service Strategy for IT Services.
- Try to clarify what is meant by an “IT Service”.
- Then apply these principles to managing a small EA department within an IT function.
Register and download here!
//Richard
Enterprise Mobility Report – Lessons from the Mobile Cloud – #Citrix, #BYOD
Here is a good report done by Citrix, not that much that I didn’t expect but great to get some input!
We just released our quarterly enterprise mobility cloud report. Every quarter, we look out across our enterprise mobility customers deployed in the cloud and try to understand common practices by reviewing aggregate data on deployed apps, app blacklisting and whitelisting practices, policy deployments, and OS deployments by region and vertical industry. So here’s a small taste of what we saw in Q412.
Things we expected:
- iOS led in the enterprise. Definitely something we already knew.
- Industries like retail and restaurants – whose use cases involve direct one-on-one customer engagement, were iOS- (and iPad-) heavy. Makes sense.
- Industries with mobile field service organizations went for Android. Given the platform’s lower replacement cost, control-ability, and ubiquity, that makes sense.
- Facebook and Dropbox made the blacklist. Productivity and data security are major concerns, especially for corporate-issued devices.
Things we didn’t expect:
- Android gained in EMEA. Android gained eleven percentage points in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in a quarter. Anecdotally, we know several organizations there that deployed big Android-based mobile line-of-business initiatives last quarter, but is there a bigger trend? Tell us what you think!
- Healthcare went for Android. 85% of deployed devices in our cloud in healthcare were Android. But healthcare organizations we talk to are standardizing on iOS, so it doesn’t add up! But remember: this is the cloud report. Most of our large healthcare customers have deployed our solution on-premise and those seem to be mostly iOS today. The cloud healthcare companies are really mobile themselves – usually home healthcare organizations like traveling nurses and therapists and hospice care workers who deliver end of life care to patients in their homes. It makes sense that these organizations would be big users of the cloud given the highly distributed nature of the business and the fact that there are some common HIPAA-compliant mobile apps that have developed for the Android platform.
- Dropbox was on the blacklist, but was also one of the most heavily-recommended apps from enterprise IT (in the enterprise app catalog). This juxtaposition speaks to Dropbox’s simultaneous usefulness and risk! Organizations can’t decide! Many of our customers talk to us about the “Dropbox dilemma” and most agree that if they could provide data sharing in a secure, enterprise-grade way, users would go for it.
Download the complete report here!
//Richard
Are you, or wanna become a Mobility or Networking guru? – #EnvokeIT, #Citrix, #XenMobile, #BYOD
Then you might be the one that we’re looking for!!
EnvokeIT is expanding and are looking for people with the following areas of expertise:
Mobility
Are you currently working within the mobility area or with any of the major Mobile Device Management products out there (MDM, MAM, MIM etc.)? Then we’d love to talk to you! We strongly believe in this area and are focusing on it and would like to have you onboard on this journey! And of course we’re focusing on the Citrix product portfolio but are mainly looking for people with experience within the area and not exclusively on the Citrix XenMobile/Zenprise products. And Enterprise Mobility Management is here to stay, it’s the future work-/play-ground!
Networking
Wow, this is an area that is exploding! And I must agree that I’m not the expert within this area, but there are so many new capabilities being developed right now and we and our customers see the business value here. We’re talking about everything from traditional old school SSL VPN to supporting the latest mobility, application and cloud delivery solutions out there! So if you have experience on the Citrix NetScaler product or are a current Cisco, F5 or Riverbed person; contact us to hear more on what we have to offer!
Contact us – EnvokeIT (form page),or if you rather contact me or Mathias directly:
Richard Egenas – CTO
Email: richard-at-envokeit-.-com
Phone: +46 (0) 768 81 01 62
Mathias Törnblom – CEO
Email: mathias-at-envokeit-.-com
Phone: +46 (0) 8 587 633 10
Thanks for taking your time reading this and I hope that you will join us on this journey!! 🙂
//Richard
#Citrix Introducing #CloudBridge 2000 and 3000
Ok, this is interesting!
Citrix is pleased to announce the new WAN-optimization appliances: CloudBridge 2000 and CloudBridge 3000. These appliances come loaded with our WAN-optimization and XenDesktop acceleration technologies including rich protocol optimization, advanced TCP flow-control, adaptive compression and smart acceleration.
This blog highlights some of key features of these appliances.
Un-matched Scalability: A pay-grow offering that is unique in the WAN-optimization industry
Using the pay-grow offering, CloudBridge 2000 can be scaled from a throughput of 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps and further to 50 Mbps with just a license upgrade. Similarly CloudBridge 3000 can be scaled from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps and further to 155 Mbps. This avoids the cost, time and logistics overhead associated with a forklift replacement. So if you have small office and expect to grow in future then these appliances are ideal for you.
* Session count is limited by link bandwidth, no session count is enforced. Published numbers are for guidance only. |
Built-in reliability
CB 2000 and CB 3000 models come prepackaged with Network bypass cards for the traffic interfaces. This ensures that the traffic to your network is never interrupted, even in case of power failure to the appliance.
Also with these models do not contain any rotating disks. Instead they use SSDs as storage resulting in enhanced disk-access speed and…
Continue reading here on the blog post and also look at this Service Delivery Network video where you can look at Citrix’s story on how enterprise and cloud networks are unified into a service delivery fabric that optimizes and secures applications and data.
//Richard
XenMobile product overview… and It’s nice! via @BasvanKaam – #BYOD, #MDM, #Citrix
Wow! I must say that Bas van Kaam has done a great wrap-up here! I highly recommend you to read this blog post!!! 🙂
It was only about a month ago when I was writing my Blog about the CloudGateway that I wondered which route Citrix would take now that they acquired Zenprise, well… here it is… XenMobile, another Xen sibling sees the light! Lets jump right in…
I had the opportunity to make use of one of Citrix’s demo environments to have a closer look at MDM, which is an awesome way to explore new and existing products by the way, if your company is a Citrix partner and has access I definitely recommend having a look. Besides that I used the Citrix E-Docs website as well as Citrix.com to find as much information as possible.
The main focus of this article will be on XenMobile MDM as the Mobile Solutions Bundle (one of the two editions available) focuses primarily on the CloudGateway which I already discussed in one of my previous blogs.
MDM?
MDM stand for Mobile Device Management and it’s just that! Here’s what Citrix has to say about it: As per Citrix: XenMobile MDM is a robust mobile device management solution that delivers role-based management, configuration, and security for both corporate and employee-owned devices. Upon user device enrollment, IT can provision policies and apps to devices automatically, blacklist or whitelist apps, detect and protect against jailbroken or rooted devices, and selectively wipe a device that is lost, stolen, or out of compliance. Users can use any device they choose, while IT can ensure compliance of corporate assets and secure corporate content on the device.
Editions
There are two editions: XenMobile MDM and the Mobile Solutions Bundle. XenMobile MDM primarily focuses on (hardware) device management, more on it’s extensive feature set shortly. Every major platform is supported including: iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Microsoft Windows 8. It includes the XenMobile Secure Mobile Gateway (SMG) and XenMobile SharePoint Data Leak Prevention (DLP) as well as the XenMobile Mobile Service Provider (ZSM) and the XenMobile Remote Support Application Toolset.
The IT Melting Pot! 