News

Citrix Releases Latest Versions of XenApp, XenDesktop

Faster application launch, quicker session reconnections highlight the upgrades.

• By Keith Ward
• 09/30/2014

The latest versions of Citrix's application and desktop virtualization offerings, XenApp and XenDesktop, are available for download.

Citrix announced the upgraded versions of the products in August. A blog posting about them said "This release is the most advanced application and desktop virtualization solution Citrix has ever delivered." The version for both products is 7.6, reflecting the fact that they share the same management and delivery platform. They are separate, but complementary, offerings.

XenDesktop is Citrix's virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) product, while XenApp is more specific to the applications themselves. Some of the upgrades include improved pre-launch technology, for faster logons; USB 3.0 readiness; quicker session reconnect through bypassing multiple logon processes for authenticated users; and better connection stability by using database connection leasing.

XenApp and XenDesktop also share a common management platform, known as FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA). The 7.6 release uses the third generation of FMA, and is designed for use in on-premise, cloud and hybrid environments.

FMA separates the control system from the application or desktop workloads, decoupling dependencies on the underlying operating systems. This allows it to be used with multiple Windows platforms. It installs a virtual delivery agent (VDA) on each Windows Server created to host apps or desktops with the same process and logic as a desktop-based VDI virtual machine. Citrix claims that a single physical server can handle up to 10 percent more apps or desktops than previous versions of XenApp.

XenApp and XenDesktop were last updated March 26, when the 7.5 versions hit the street. Customers with Citrix subscriptions can get the products here. A trial version of each is also available.