Citrix announced a new release of the Citrix XenDesktop product, the desktop virtualization solution. XenDesktop brings hybrid cloud provisioning to enterprise desktop virtualization deployments, allowing customers to use Amazon Web Services (AWS) or any Citrix CloudPlatform(TM) powered by Apache CloudStack(R) cloud to flex, grow or transform their virtual desktop infrastructure. By leveraging the elasticity and economics of large clouds, customers can add new capacity for seasonal or unplanned needs without incurring capital expenditures, giving them the flexibility and resources for the mobile enterprise.

XenDesktop is built on the same FlexCast Management Architecture as Citrix XenApp(R), which provides a single console from which customers can deliver both virtual apps and desktops. XenDesktop is helping to drive the Citrix vision of the mobile workspace to securely deliver apps, desktops, files and services seamlessly to any user, on any device, over any network. Along with new release of XenDesktop, Citrix announced two new Citrix Ready(R) programs addressing hybrid cloud and low-cost initiatives.

Together, XenApp and XenDesktop provide the only unified architecture for delivering virtual apps via XenApp and adding a variety of virtual desktop delivery models with XenDesktop, increasing IT flexibility and saving infrastructure and costs. XenDesktop 7.5 can provision application or desktop workloads to a private or public cloud infrastructure alongside traditional virtual infrastructure deployments. Unlike competitors that force customers to use completely different solutions for on-premise and cloud, XenDesktop 7.5 uses the same management consoles and skillsets, with no new configuration consoles or training needed.

Also unlike competing solutions, XenDesktop supports an "any cloud" strategy that does not lock customers into a proprietary cloud with limited geographical distribution, but instead allows them to leverage any of the large public clouds on the market. Initially, hybrid cloud provisioning will be supported for AWS or any CloudPlatform-powered public or private cloud. Over time, new support will be added including the previously announced support for Windows Azure cloud platform.

With one installer and about one-third of the steps of competing products, XenApp and XenDesktop have the easiest deployment processes in the market, and are the only solutions with built-in monitoring and automated provisioning.