As we approach the end of this unprecedented year, Citrix continues to work hard to help our customers adapt to business challenges and securely deploy a digital workspace with confidence. We enthusiastically announce the rollout of our latest features and developments with the release of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 version 2012. This release, along with our continual cloud service enhancements, will help you deliver the IT agility you need for 2021. Here are some highlights of what’s new:

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 release 2012

This release marks an important milestone of five years of quarterly releases for our on-prem customers. Since 2015, we have successfully released a new product version every quarter while also consistently increasing product quality. This release provides new features including HDX enhancements such as drag-and-drop files across ICA sessions, WIA imaging support, and Rendezvous Explicit Proxy Support. Additional improvements in Session Recording, Remote PC Access, and MCS are also included. Please review the product documentation for details on all the new enhancements.

Updated Quick Deploy feature offers DaaS simplicity and speed for Virtual Apps and Desktops service customers

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service on Citrix Cloud has integrated our simple desktops-as-a-service (DaaS) interface from our popular Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Standard for Azure via the new Quick Deploy wizard. This feature makes expanding capacity on Azure a snap. Now customers looking to quickly rollout Windows or Linux apps and desktops for use cases such as business continuity, temporary/seasonal workers, or mergers and acquisitions can do so in a matter of minutes. Given the simplicity, it’s also ideal for customers who are new to virtualization as well as those looking to leverage Windows 10 Multi-session Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop) workloads side by side with existing deployments in the simplest way. The feature is now available for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced and Premium service customers on Citrix Cloud.

Service Continuity Tech Preview enhanced cloud resiliency

Customers who are hesitant to make the move to the cloud often state concerns due to risks associated with workers losing internet connectivity. Citrix is excited to announce the public tech preview of Service Continuity. This fundamental improvement in the overall architecture and design of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service allows users to continue to connect to virtual app and desktop resources even during outages of multiple components. Azure, AWS, or GCP issues? No problem, users can still connect. With certain ISP issues, users can still connect. In short, as long as there is networking connectivity between the endpoint and the VDA, users will be able to connect to app and desktop resources.

This groundbreaking feature sets a new level of resilience and availability in the industry. Service Continuity is now available for use with Citrix Workspace app for Windows version 2012 and the Virtual Apps and Desktops service in Citrix Cloud. We encourage everyone to try it today and send feedback to servicecontinuity@citrix.com. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

Automated Configuration tool for CVAD reaches General Availability

Citrix recently announced that the Automated Configuration export tool for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops has reached general availability. This tool is designed to automate the migration of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops configuration (policies, applications, catalogs, and more) from one or more on-premises site(s) to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop service on Citrix Cloud. The tool is not limited to the migration use case. While our vision is to automate all configuration management in the cloud (hence the name Automated Configuration), you can leverage the tool for automating day-to-day configuration operations and backups as well as for cloud site-to-site synchronization. This is key for keeping multiple dev/test cloud sites in sync with the cloud production site, backing up existing configurations as well as automating disaster recovery. For additional information, check out our deep dive we recently did in the Citrix Cloud Master Class.

Self-service troubleshooting with Cloud Health Check

The Cloud Health Check tool enables customers to self-troubleshoot and automate checks on virtual delivery agents (VDAs), Citrix StoreFront servers, and Profile Management for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service environments. Citrix developed the Cloud Health Check troubleshooting tool to enable customers to self-troubleshoot and automate checks to help maintain and optimize their deployments. Admins can follow the steps in this blog post to help them download the tool and get started.

Web Studio project continues to enhance admin experience

Citrix is pleased to announce that Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop service customers now have access to the new Citrix Web Studio! This updated version brings new improvements and a visual refresh that will help admins simplify their app and desktop management tasks. With the new Citrix Web Studio, we see 15 percent faster interactions across the board compared to the previous Studio console. Customers in our tech preview have seen performance gains of up to 2x. For more information on Web Studio, see our recent blog post

Session Recording Update

Citrix is introducing email alerts to Session Recording based on events. If a customer-indicated event occurs, an email notification will be sent with a link that will automatically play back the session from the time of the event. Also, Session Recording is supported with the new unified web player, released late last year, enabling seamless playback and cataloging of recordings.

CVAD Long Term Service Release 1912 receives Common Criteria certification

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 1912 LTSR successfully met all the requirements at Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 2 with augmentation for Flaw Remediation, earning the final designation of EAL2+ (ALC_FLR.2). Citrix was able to demonstrate and prove that its Flaw Remediation management and processes exceed the Common Criteria requirements. Customers who wish to standardize on a highly proven and certified platform for years to come can now do so with the 1912 LTSR release. For all compliance listings, please visit the Citrix Trust Center.

Workspace Environment Management (WEM) Updates

Citrix is continuing its commitment to further the WEM offering for control, security, scalability, and performance within virtual sessions. Here are some of the key feature enhancements we’re delivering in Q4:

  • Agent cache handling: Automatically re-create agent cache for non-persistent environments during startup
  • Citrix Optimizer: Support the latest Citrix Optimizer templates with WEM to maintain high scalability. Allow the use of self-defined OS templates from Citrix Optimizer in WEM.
  • Monitor Profile Containers: Provide a Profile Container Insights section of WEM that gives admins key info on profile containers to assess things like space usage and session status which can impact users.
  • Resource Consumption: Allow WEM to optimize idle sessions including disconnected sessions through appropriate process and memory hooking.
  • Memory Optimization: Introduce more configurable memory optimization including idle state limits, optimization by process size, and the ability to exclude processes.
  • Privilege Elevation: Introduce configurable policies to selectively elevate user permissions for specific processes at specific times with full logging capabilities. Watch our video below on this feature to see how WEM helps to enable a zero-trust strategy.

Long Term Service Release (LTSR) 1912 CU2 Update

Citrix announces that the Cumulative Update 2 (CU2) is now available for CVAD LTSR 1912 customers. LTSRs are also available for XenApp and XenDesktop with versions 7.15 and 7.6. If you are new to the LTSR program, there is no need for you to install the 1912 LTSR initial release. Instead, we recommend that you begin your deployment with 1912 LTSR CU2, which includes the initial release plus the latest cumulative update fixes for performance, security, and stability.

Analytics Updates

We also wanted to include some updates to Citrix Analytics that are getting rave reviews. Many Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops customers, both on-premises and cloud, are realizing the power of the ML-generated insights and actions provided by Citrix Analytics for both security and performance.

Some enhancements for Security Analytics include:

  • Insider threat mitigation with Session Recording: See an aggregated view of all the insider threats to your organization, helping to identify and mitigate risk quickly and efficiently. Detect potential insider threats early by leveraging Session Recording events, such as clipboard use and USB drive insertions, and then take action on them.
  • Geo-fencing user access: Geo-fencing user access enables security teams to create location-based, policy-driven access, enabling them to create implicit allow/deny lists for users based on geographic locations.
  • Security assurance dashboard: The Security Assurance Dashboard ensures Citrix admins have a consolidated view of authentication, location, and user activity to easily identify potential risk and data exfiltration (see the image below).

Some of the key enhancements for Performance Analytics this quarter include:

  • User Dashboard Enhancements: Breakdowns sessions by protocol, Central “Time & Site” Filter and data consistency.
  • Logon duration insights: Insights on GPO execution time, users with large profiles, and correlate VDA performance to session performance.
  • Failure Data Points: Data points for better troubleshooting.
  • Machine Insights: Uncover how peak CPU and memory usage trends can affect user experience, view historical trends of utilization, machine failures, and more with a customizable search.
  • Overloaded Machine Insights: Despite load evaluators, there’s no way to predict which users will consume the most resources. Gain insights into the machines that are overloaded and why.
  • Session connection path insights: Identify issues pertinent to sessions from through data from the gateway and connection protocol.
  • ML-based anomaly alerts: Alerts on outliers from baselined performance data due to factors such as high network latency. Root cause analysis and recommendations are also provided.

Lastly, we are thrilled to announce the public availability of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Roadmap! Now customers can stay up to date on new and upcoming technologies and features of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

Want more? Attend our Year in Review webinar on Tuesday, December 15, where you’ll be able to ask questions of our product experts and see the new features in action. You can register here, and if you can’t make the live session, you can watch on demand.

Disclaimer: The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion and are subject to change without notice or consultation. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not a commitment, promise or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions or incorporated into any contract.