Busting Common Myths Around Application Virtualization - Myth 1

This is the first in a series from Citrix Systems.

Citrix Systems currently has 230,000 customers using Citrix® XenApp to deliver applications to their users. Despite this broad adoption of application virtualization within enterprises, we find in talking with our customers and prospects, that outdated and in some cases completely inaccurate information is inhibiting some companies taking full advantage of what XenApp application virtualization and delivery software can provide. Given the broad enterprise use of XenApp and its ability to reduce server-based computing costs by 50 percent, we want to make sure IT professionals know how to reap the full benefits of application virtualization.

Virtually all Windows applications are compatible with XenApp and can be delivered as a service. In this series, we will explore and debunk the common myths that still abound around XenApp application delivery.

The most common myths we hear are:

• My apps don't work with XenApp. They are not designed to work in a XenApp/Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services) environment.
• My users can only use XenApp when they are connected to a network.
• XenApp doesn't support graphics intensive, multimedia applications. If they do run, they are very slow
• XenApp doesn't support local printing or local devices.
• My users won't want to use XenApp, because the user experience is not as good as installed apps.

We'll take a look at each of these false assumptions and myths individually. Let's begin with the biggest one:  that most applications don't work with XenApp.

Worldwide community gives thumbs-up

In reality, more than 2,000 applications have been endorsed by well over 9,000 supporters of the software.  With more than 230,000 customers worldwide, we estimate that they deliver more than 20 million applications to more than 100 million users on one million servers every day. The number of applications in each of these organizations ranges from less than 10 to over 1,000 - counting both commercial and home-grown applications.

Sheer numbers alone demonstrate that most apps do in fact work with XenApp.

Over 50 top commercial applications have been certified as Citrix Ready. This means that a software company has run a series of tests as defined by Citrix for XenApp, submitted their results to Citrix and had them verified. Thousands of applications (commercial and home-grown) have been verified by software vendors or by the Citrix Community.. Community members have cast thousands of  "support votes," indicating that they, too, have verified the applications.

Getting better all the time

Technical improvements to the product itself over the years have helped lay the groundwork for superior app compatibility. In Presentation Server 4.0, we delivered the Application Isolation Environment (or AIE). This enabled customers to virtualize the application and run it in an isolation environment on the server in order to prevent application conflicts and deliver more applications per server.