Citrix Virtual Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) is a

desktop virtualization Desktop virtualization is a software technology that separates the desktop environment and associated application software from the physical client device that is used to access it. Desktop virtualization can be used in conjunction with applicati ...

product.

History

The virtualization technology that led to XenDesktop was first developed in 2000 through an open-source

hypervisor A hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, VMM, or virtualizer) is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called ...

research project led by Ian Pratt at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

called Xen Project for x86. Pratt founded a company called XenSource in 2004, which made a commercial version of the Xen hypervisor. In 2007, Citrix acquired XenSource, releasing XenDesktop version 2.0 in 2008. The company continues to release updated versions, with XenDesktop 7.6 featuring HDX technology enhancements for audio, video and graphics user experience, as well as a reduction in storage costs associated with virtual desktop deployments as a result of improvements to Citrix provisioning services. In 2018, the software was renamed Citrix Virtual Desktops.

Product overview

The product's aim is to give employees the ability to work from anywhere while cutting

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costs because desktops and applications are centralized. XenDesktop also aims to provide security, because

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

is not stored on the devices of end users, instead being saved in a centralized datacenter or cloud infrastructure. Citrix developed the software for use by medium to large

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

customers. Citrix Workspace is able to manage and deliver applications and desktops using a

connection broker In software engineering, a connection broker is a resource manager that manages a pool of connections to connection-based resources such as databases or remote desktop In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating s ...

called Desktop Delivery Controller. It supports multiple

hypervisors A hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, VMM, or virtualizer) is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is calle ...

, including Citrix Hypervisor, VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Nutanix Acropolis to create

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

s to run the applications and desktops. The software allows for several types of delivery methods and is compatible with multiple architectures, including desktops and servers, datacenters, and private, public or hybrid clouds. Virtualized applications can be delivered to virtual desktops using Virtual Apps.

Release history

* Version 7.5 - March 26, 2014 * Version 7.6 - September 30, 2014 * Version 7.6 Feature Pack 1 - March 31, 2015 * Version 7.6 Feature Pack 2 - June 30, 2015 * Version 7.6 Feature Pack 3 - September 30, 2015 * Version 7.6 LTSR - January 11, 2016 * Version 7.7 - December 29, 2015 * Version 7.8 - February 24, 2016 * Version 7.9 - June 1, 2016 * Version 7.11 - September 4, 2016 * Version 7.12 - December 7, 2016 * Version 7.13 - February 23, 2017 * Version 7.14 - May 23, 2017 * Version 7.15 LTSR - August 15, 2017 * Version 7.16 - November, 2017 * Version 7.17 - February, 2018 * Version 7.18 - June, 2018

References

{{reflist , 32em Citrix Systems Cloud computing providers Centralized computing Remote desktop