After much anticipation, the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 2203 Long Term Service Release (LTSR) is now available! Organizations have been preparing for and inquiring about this release for the last few months, which makes us even more excited to share it.
We know that the world of hybrid work is here to stay. This shift over the past two years in how we work has driven product priorities that enable users to work better, from wherever they are. This release includes more than two years’ of notable feature innovations and performance optimizations since the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912 LTSR. Additionally, customers on our current release (CR) track can leverage this release as a regular update within their environments. Let’s take a closer look at what this LTSR can do for you.
LTSR overview
First, though, a quick recap. LTSRs are typically released once every two to three years and have an extended lifecycle and support policy. The LTSR track is intended for organizations looking for predictability within their environments because they can get up to five years of mainstream support. Additionally, organizations gain the benefit of upgrading to a highly tested and vetted release with a compilation of all the latest features and innovations.
For CR customers, this release is still relevant to you. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203 is the successor to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2112. This means you can roll out 2203 into your environments today and start testing to stay up to date.
What’s New
For our LTSR customers, there have been a lot of innovations and changes since the release of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912, and even more since XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15, which is targeted to reach end of life in August of this year. This means there are many features and improvements to catch up on and take full advantage of.
There were so many updates, in fact, that we had to put the content into multiple blog posts. Let’s take a closer look at the great updates we have made and resources to help you get more information.
- Top HDX improvements: Our high-definition user experience (HDX) features continue to be top drivers of customer and user satisfaction. Miguel Contreras unpacks the top 10 HDX improvements over the past two years to show you how to get the most out of this new release. From Optimization for Microsoft Teams improvements to graphics performance enhancements, there is a ton to love.
- Linux VDA enhancements: The Linux VDA team has been hard at work to bring organizations a flexible and feature-rich Linux experience. Over the past two years, we have added capabilities like HDX screensharing, an easy install tool, enhanced PVS, and more. Check out Terry Hou’s blog post for more information.
- The top reasons to move to the LTSR, from a Citrix Architect: Brendan Lin, a Lead Enterprise Architect at Citrix, hashes out the top reasons why you should consider moving to the 2203 LTSR. Adaptive audio and MTU discovery are only a couple of reasons to make the move. But, there are also great options when combining the LTSR with cloud to take your environment to the next level. Check out Brendan’s blog post on cloud deployments with LTSR components.
Want to learn more? We’re hosting a “What’s New and Next” webinar on Wednesday, March 30. Join us for discussions around our feature updates, product direction, and live Q&A with product experts.
Cloud Provisioning
Returning to CR and LTSR is the ability to provision to public clouds, like Azure and Google, from your IT-managed LTSR environment. The Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203 release reinstates support for cloud-hosted workloads (VDAs) in our CRs and LTSRs, starting with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203 for Hybrid Rights subscriptions only.
This is exciting news for customers looking to operate in hybrid environments and leverage cloud workloads as needed. Organizations can take full advantage of cloud updates introduced over the past two years while leveraging the environment configurations they have today.
This also means that Customers leveraging the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912 LTSR for public cloud workloads, can now leverage a Hybrid Rights subscription to continue utilizing public clouds with the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203 release. For more information, please refer to our updated public cloud provisioning support article.
Next Steps
What are you waiting for? Now is a great time to download the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 2203 LTSR and start rolling it out to your pre-production environments. You can upgrade directly from the 2112 CR or the base version or any CU of the 1912 LTSR. You can find additional information in the updated LTSR FAQ. Be sure to take advantage of the latest LTSR today!
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.
