Citrix Working on iPhone Compatibility

I have a keen interest in what’s happening with desktop virtualization and mobile clients. In this context, I recently talked with Citrix product manager Al Grandville. Turns out Citrix is working with Apple on using iPhone for both XenDesktop and XenApp applications as he discusses in a blog post.

Like VMware’s vClient initiative and its universal client concept, Citrix wants to bring its core hosted product offerings to as many different types of devices as possible. Grandville says the company has mobile clients available today for both Windows Mobile and Symbian devices but the performance is not where they’d like it to be. But he points out that both iPhones and the increasing availability of 3G are game changers. The difference is in the all–important aspects of both screen size and user interface (which of course Apple has excelled at) as well as the improved response time and bandwidth capacity of 3G wireless coverage, now accessible with the latest version of iPhone.

While no product has yet been announced, Citrix software developers in the UK have recently ported the XenApp source code to the iPhone platform. A Citrix community blog launched an informal (and not terrribly scientific) survey asking “Do you need a Citrix client for the iPhone?” 58% responded to the choice (one of three) “I need it for my company users (and myself).”

Posted by Tom Valovic on 09/25/2008 at 12:49 PM