Power to the People

Editor’s Note: Today’s the last day of Dell World. Steve Ballmer from Microsoft recently wrapped up his keynote and you can catch others later today at Dell World Live Online. Today’s partner guest post is from Matt Crawford who drives market visibility and thought leadership for XenDesktop and XenApp at Citrix. He was involved in the recent launches of XenDesktop 5.5 and XenApp 6.5.

The theme of this year’s Dell World 2011 is “Unlocking Innovation in the Virtual Era.”  This got me thinking about innovation.  Technology doesn’t innovate.  People innovate.  Seems simple enough, but too often it’s tempting to focus on devices and technology as the source of innovation.  Citrix continues to help customers unlock innovation of their workforce by using desktop virtualization.  We know that in order to extend the benefits of desktop virtualization throughout the enterprise, the user experience has to be spectacular.  That’s where HDX comes in. With HDX, the desktop experience rivals a local PC, even when using multimedia, real-time collaboration, USB peripherals, and 3D graphics.  Now we have taken that a step further.  Delivering more than 150 new HDX features and enhancements, XenDesktop 5.5 represents the largest HDX release in the 20 year history of Citrix. Central to this release is the ability to deliver twice the virtual desktops over the WAN due to HDX optimizations, acceleration and Quality of Service capabilities.

XenDesktop 5.5 also introduces personal vDisk technology.  This technology is available as an early access feature available in all editions of XenDesktop for customers to use in their labs and Proof of Concepts (POC’s).  Personal vDisk technology allows end users’ virtual desktops to be as personal as their physical desktops, while enabling IT to realize significant cost and management savings.

At Dell World, Citrix is showcasing the many ways Citrix and Dell are working together to help our customers innovate in how they deliver their desktops and applications. At our booth we are demonstrating our XenDesktop, XenClient and VDI-in-a-Box technologies which are all part of Dell’s Desktop Virtualization Solutions offering.

We at Citrix are excited to partner with Dell’s Desktop Virtualization Solutions.  In fact, Dell’s Desktop Virtualization Solutions and Citrix XenDesktop are playing a crucial role in delivering a unique experience for attendees at the upcoming Citrix Synergy event in Barcelona.  At Synergy Barcelona, Dell and Citrix are transforming the way we deliver desktops to multiple event areas such as Event Registration, the Internet Access Center, the Bring Your Own (BYO) Experience and the Press Center by creating the Desktop Transformation Center. This center is a fully operational VDI infrastructure built on an extended version of the Dell Integrated Solution Stack powered by PowerEdge Servers, EqualLogic storage and PowerConnect switches.  Synergy event attendees will experience Dell and Citrix solutions live and we are excited to work closely with Dell to transform the attendee experience at Citrix Synergy.

True innovation is about more than technology of course.  It’s about putting the right technology in place so that people can innovate.  This people-centric approach is what we’re all about and why our partnership with Dell is such a good match.

About the Author: Matt Crawford