* What Citrix has been working on
This week our Special Focus takes a look at Citrix.
According to our author (jcox@nww.com), Citrix has been working hard to create a new market for its flagship MetaFrame Presentation Server, a program that displays applications on an array of computing devices while the applications run on server farms under Windows Terminal Services.
Presentation Server is now one part of a package of four separate products, called the MetaFrame Access Suite. The idea is to use the suite to create a set of client-server programs that let users connect with their applications from any device, over any network. Citrix calls this an ‘access management infrastructure.”
Last Fall Citrix launched a $14 million advertising campaign to promote it’s new message. In April, it shipped the latest release, 3.0, of both its core Presentation Server, and the Access Suite, which also includes applications for working collaboratively on documents and applications, a secure Web portal, and a single-sign-on capability.
One of the best example of Citrix’s access message may be found in the nest of issues around deploying applications over the next-generation of high-performance cellular nets.
Mobile and remote users have to connect over various types of wireless nets. Somehow they have to have technical support for the equally various type of user devices, applications, and operating systems they use. And immediate access to line-of-business applications and corporate data can pay huge dividends.
Cellular nets are expanding in breadth and bandwidth, with expansion of EVDO, CDMA and GSM, says Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, a Lake Forest, Calif., Citrix integrator that now specializes in wireless applications for small and midsize businesses. Rates are now about $80 per month for unlimited data, he says, and he expects that to drop in coming months to $50.
At the same time, Citrix is optimized for low-bandwidth connections, needing only 20K bit/sec for a good performance. In the new 3.0 release, Citrix has added a range of techniques to create a smooth, fast user interaction even when cellular signals or weak. An auto-reconnect feature lets a user keep working until a new connection is forged and the application can catch-up.
Compelling yes, but will users buy into it?
For more on this story see: https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524specialfocus.html
