Citrix improves desktop delivery

Tech will support Microsoft's Longhorn

Access infrastructure vendor Citrix has announced its plans for next-generation application virtualisation technology that will support Microsoft's upcoming Longhorn server release. The firm also unveiled application streaming technology to improve desktop administration.

During a keynote speech at the company's iForum user conference in Las Vegas, Citrix group vice-president Scott Herren said the Project Constellation virtualisation initiative will release products and features within one to three years.

Features will include autonomic load management, which can automatically log an employee's usage pattern, create a profile around this, and direct them to the server with the appropriate resources, Herren said. "What load balancing is to server utilisation, autonomic load management is to better end-user experience," he said. In addition, session-recording technologies that log keystrokes and mouse clicks will help administrators set security policies, Herren said.

Also at the event, Citrix chief executive Mark Templeton demonstrated Project Tarpon - application streaming technology due for release next year - which he said will "change the game" for the delivery of desktop applications.

"Desktop applications are mission-critical, so having the ability to deliver [them] is essential," Templeton commented. "Pushing applications to where they need to be installed by a robotic mechanism leaves a lot to be desired."

Instead, with Tarpon, applications will be streamed to an isolated environment on the desktop where they can be used on demand. As applications are never actually installed on the desktop, fewer resources are needed and administration is easier, Templeton added.

David Friedlander of analyst Forrester said the streaming technology has the potential to limit, or eliminate, application conflicts on the desktop. "But IT's challenge is that although [application streaming] handles software delivery and management very well, it doesn't address systems management and security, like applying patches," he added.

Customers welcomed the announcements. Jeffrey Shiflett, assistant IT director for the York County region in Pennsylvania, said Tarpon could solve a problem his department has with remote staff trying to access desktop apps when they cannot link to the network.