Citrix Unveils XenClient With Intel At Its Side
The Citrix line on XenClient is that it runs virtual desktops on commercial desktop and notebook PCs without compromising the performance and mobility demanded by users, or the management capabilities and security desired by IT administrators. Working closely with Intel, Citrix built XenClient to optimize the chip giant’s vPro technology for manageable, secure commercial client systems.
“What we’re seeing and what the numbers are reflecting is that corporate customers are starting to buy again and when they buy they are looking at performance because their users are demanding it,” said Rick Echevarria, vice president of Intel’s Business Client unit.
“So the question is, do you really want to lock yourself into thin clients when your users are demanding more performance, like video? But what if we gave you one platform where you can run any kind of computing that you like? So the work that we’ve been doing with Citrix over the years has been to give people a lot of different compute options on one platform, vPro.”
XenClient is currently available as a free trial and evaluation kit called XenClient Express. The product is a bare metal hypervisor, meaning it runs on “the most privileged layer of the software stack,” according to Citrix, that is based on the same virtualization technology that powers the company’s XenServer products.
Echevarria said the next step for corporate IT managers who may be interested in a thin-client solution like XenClient is to begin really mapping out which parts of their user base would benefit.
“The big ‘Ah-ha!’ that we’re seeing in IT is that I really need to do my homework about my user base. Segmenting your user population is hugely important. A one-size-fits-all approach really doesn’t work,” he said.