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A catch-up with Liquidware on new features of FlexApp and ProfileUnity

|Posted In: Application Compatibility , Application Layering , Citrix , End User Computing , Horizon , Liquidware Labs , Microsoft RDS , Podcasts , Remote Desktop Services , RES Software , VDI , VMware | August 1, 2017 | 0

On this episode we’re joined by  Jason E. Smith (VP Product Marketing) and Jason Mattox (CTO) for a catchup on all things we with Liquidware.

The market has morphed and changed a lot this year, with vendors snapping up vendors alike, Liquidware are keeping their heads down and doing what they do best, innovating.

On this episode, we had the pleasure to speak about the following topics:

  • How is Liquidware getting on these days.
  • Going strong with three core products.
  • The importance of remaining independent.
  • Thoughts on the Ivanti – RES acquisition.
  • New name, same company.
  • Whats new with ProfileUnity:
    • Role based Access Control
    • Auditing
    • Profile disk support for RDSH.
  • Whats new with FlexApp.
    • On Demand layering
    • Session Isolation.
  • The differences and benefits between operating system layering and Application layering.
  • What is the “Inside Track” LinkedIn group.
  • What’s next for Liquidware.

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A chat with Pat Lee, Vice President – Cloud Apps and Desktops at VMware

|Posted In: Horizon , Microsoft RDS , Podcasts , Remote Desktop Services , VDI , VMware | February 2, 2017 | 0

11003dbAnd we’re back! On this podcast we were joined by none other than Pat Lee, Vice President, Product Management – Cloud Apps and Desktops at VMware. Pat has had a fascinating past along with working in a very busy department at the moment that is VMware EUC.

As VMware are driving forward so aggressively, we took great pleasure in speaking with Pat in this episode about the following topics:

  • Pat’s start in IT and his career path from Mac hardware to VMware EUC.
  • Development of VMware fusion.
  • Transition from product management to VP, how has that gone for you?
  • The evolution of VMware’s EUC side, particularly in the last 36 months.
  • Developing a great VDI client for smart phones, how VMware nailed the use case.
  • Blast extreme, congrats on the new protocol, whats the use case and where does it fit?
  • Lets talk PCOIP vs Blast, where is the future of VMware’s EUC story?
  • Of all the VMware projects Pat has been evolved it, we talk about his favourite projects.
  • GPU and horizon has been a big push, why, where and how?
  • Is EUC getting enough focus at VMworld?
  • Citrix’s marketing has been attacking hard at Synergy and Summit, what does that tell you?
  • Crystal ball time, whats next and where is the market going?
  • IoT, the good, bad and downright crazy.

As promised a worthwhile attendance would be the VMware EUC Insights session in February:

https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2017/01/registration-open-euc-insights-2017.html

That’s it for now! New podcast coming next week!

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FSLogix Project Flux Makes Office 365 and Other Applications A Reality in Non-Persistent Virtual Desktops Part 1

|Posted In: Blog , Citrix , End User Computing , FSLogix , Horizon , Remote Desktop Services , VDI | July 13, 2016 | 0

Recently at Citrix Synergy, FSLogix announced a new feature code named Project Flux.  Project Flux is a much needed and awaited feature in the non-persistent virtual desktop world.  As applications move to cloud based infrastructures like Office 365 and the distance between client and server infrastructure grows, applications can suffer from poor performance issues.  Things have been done to try and band aid this issue by redirecting folders to local file shares such as Application Data or just redirecting the caching portion of the application in applications such as Outlook or Lotus Notes.  The problem with redirecting Application Data or just the caching portion of the application is we aren’t really solving the problem.  The application can and will suffer from poor performance.  I say can and will because at smaller scale things may seem ok, but what happens when you try to scale?  The problem comes back or things get worse when another piece of infrastructure, like a file server, becomes overloaded during peak usage times of the day.  So how does FSLogix solve this problem?  With Project Flux!

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A catchup with Kevin Goodman, CEO of FSLogix all about Synergy and Flux.

|Posted In: Citrix , End User Computing , FSLogix , Microsoft RDS , Remote Desktop Services , VDI , VMware | June 22, 2016 | 0

kevinFresh out of Citrix Synergy 2016 we had the pleasure to catch up with our good friend Kevin Goodman,  founder and CEO of FSlogix.

FSLogix came out with huge news announcing their latest project, Flux! For those not in the know, Flux from FSLogix will containerise a users outlook personal data and search in virtual desktop environments, essentially removing the last big hurdle for office 365!

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This Month in EUC – Episode 5.

|Posted In: Application Compatibility , Citrix , End User Computing , FSLogix , Horizon , Mobility , Podcasts , RES Software , Turbo.Net , VDI , VMware , vWorkspace | May 22, 2016 | 0

newLogo800Back once again, catching up on the latest movements in the EUC and Virtualisation space with our esteemed panel of Kees Baggerman and Thomas Brown.

On this episode, we discussed the following topics:

  • Appsense Acquisition to Landesk.
  • Citrix Melio is no more.
  • Dell vWorkspace end of life.
  • Citrix promoting the Raspberry PI, how does that work and what do we think.
  • Latest Xenmobile updates:
    •  Touch ID for worxhome.
    • iPad Pro view for worx apps.
  • Citrix synergy is coming, what do we expect?
  • synergy announcements due from:
    • Unidesk v4
    • FsLogix
  • Michael roth joins Fslogix from RES software.
  • Turbo going from strength to strength.
  • Cloudhouse is an interesting play.
  • Horizon 7 out in the wild.
    • Kicking the tyres of “JIT”
    • Blast protocol seems to be doing very well
    • AppVolumes 3
  • XD 7.8 in the wild?
  • Upcoming Conferences

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A deep dive on VMware’s new Access Point with Mark Benson

|Posted In: Horizon , Podcasts , VDI , VMware | March 24, 2016 | 0

Mark Benson 1.jpgA great new product was released, relatively quietly into the VMware Horizon stack late last year and that was the VMware Horizon Access Point. If you’re not familiar with the Access point, this is a stateless appliance you can deploy in a Horizon environment replacing the VMware security server.

Jarian and I tested this appliance and we were very intrigued! So we reached out to Mark Benson, EUC CTO office in VMware and he thankfully agreed to record a podcast with us on the background to this Access Point technology and it’s roadmap.

On this podcast, we had the great pleasure to speak with Mark about the following topics:

  • Mark’s career path to date.
  • Mark’s transition to VMware.
  • Access Point’s strategy as a replacement for Horizon security server.
  • Lightweight deployment by design.
  • Scalability of Access Point.
  • Security Server’s future and Access Point’s place with other technologies.
  • The migration from security server to access point.
  • Planning for zero downtime.
  • Handling authentication models with Access Points.
  • Tips on automating deployment to allow Access Point to be production ready on first boot.

the podcast is a fascinating insight into how the production ready appliance was developed and why, a big thank you to Mark for taking the time to speak with us.

As promised, here you’ll find some good documentation and tools for the access point:

 

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This Month in EUC – Episode 4.

|Posted In: Application Compatibility , Citrix , End User Computing , Liquidware Labs , Mobility , Podcasts , RES Software , Unidesk , VDI , VMware | March 18, 2016 | 0

newLogo800And the opinionated four are back! We missed January due to Andrew’s manflu.

In this podcast, we run down the news and moves in the last two months and discuss them with the usual cynicism and sarcasm you’ve come to expect!

The podcast covers off the following topics:

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VMworld 2015 Barcelona EUC highlights

|Posted In: Blog , End User Computing , VMware | October 20, 2015 | 0

vmworld_logo

With thanks to our awesome sponsor ControlUp, we had the pleasure of attending VMworld 2015 in barcelona this week. Now that the dust has settled and the coolaid has been drunk (never drink and blog) here I’ve summized a few points from the week.

VMworld is always such a huge machine to EUC people, almost daunting at times and that’s never clearer than when talking to other techies who have no clue about EUC in general, VMware really is a beast in that regard, but i’m only two paragraphs and I’ve already digressed. This VMworld has had a really good portion of EUC focus, all sessions on the topics from roadmap, futures and graphics were completely booked out and things are really moving forward. I was a little disappointed not to see more EUC vendors, but knowing that VMware have an entry level answer to UEM and (in a lot of cases) a better answer to application layering, maybe there’s a little “cutting off nose in spite of face…” from the hurt feels.

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A panel chat on GPU and desktop virtualization.

|Posted In: End User Computing , Microsoft RDS , Remote Desktop Services , VDI , VMware | July 10, 2015 | 0

simonbramfitt seanmassey tpopWelcome back to Frontline Chatter podcast. Some recent comments in blogs and on social media about how GPU should be required on every desktop virtualization project turned into some lively debates on Twitter, etc.  This was perceived as misleading by some, along with Sean Massey writing a blog post (GPUs Should Be Optional for VDI) outlining issues with GPU form fact in today’s format.

We at Frontline Chatter decided to get a panel together to discuss GPU to dispel confusion, provide education on the technologies available and help customers make informed, educated decisions away from blanket statements.

Joining us on the podcast are industry experts Thomas Poppelgaard (MVP, CTP), Sean Massey (vExpert EUC), and Simon Bramfitt (Senior Industry Analyst).

In this podcast we’re here to explain GPU, vGPU options, and debate the viability of achieving success in VDI/HSD with or without GPU backing.  Topics discussed include:

  • Description of GPU enablement
  • Technical availability
    • VMware Technologies – Pass-Trough/vDGA, Shared Virtual Graphics/vSGA, and vGPU with NVIDIA GRID cards
    • XenServer Technologies – Pass-Through and GPU with NVIDIA GRID cards
    • Hyper-V Technologies – Bare Metal and RemoteFX
  • Where does GPU make most sense? Or is this a win for everyone?
  • We’re told GPU makes everything better, where are the facts and figures? Or is this all in perceived user benefit?
  • Demystifying GPU and VDI, are we seeing much use of GPU with RDS/XenApp/HSD technologies?
  • Price and foot print. Do the benefits of GPU outweigh the rack space?  Does deploying many smaller servers have benefits over huge iron with density?
  • What about bare metal?
  • Today vs Tomorrow, where is this technology going and when WILL its adoption allow critical mass?
    • Better form factor – mezzanine cards, pass-through PCI cables, etc.?
    • Better design – on chip/dye GPU like Intel Iris and AMD?
    • Better support for motioning VMs and datacenter virtualization technologies?
    • Price?
  • Add much more!

Thank you to our panel guests for joining us for this podcast! It was a really hot debate and too good to cut off so apologies in advance for the 1 hour long podcast. It really is topical gold, so worth listen.

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Lets talk VMware Project Enzo!

|Posted In: End User Computing , Podcasts , VMware | May 27, 2015 | 0

benFun times and what a podcast! We managed to swoop in right after the Project Enzo announcement during Citrix Synergy last week and book some time with Ben Goodman, Lead Evangelist for VMware Horizon to talk about a VMware’s latest EUC announcement, VMware project Enzo. Project Enzo was a huge announcement and we were very keen to learn more!

Ben is a great guy, we’ve interacted a number of times on twitter and it was great to finally get to chat with him.

Because today’s podcast is all about VMware EUC and Project Enzo. If you have not heard of Project Enzo yet, check out the following video (we’ll wait!). It wont take long and it’s well worth the watch!

ok all good? lets continue.

On today’s podcast, we had the pleasure to talk to Ben about the following:

  • Ben’s history in IT
  • Novell and Identity Management.
  • Ben’s Move to VMware and how he has seen VMware grow in the EUC space
  • How VMware EUC projects help Citrix customers.
  • What is Project Enzo?
    • Cloud Management Engine
    • Smart Node technology
    • JIT Desktops, Apps and User Data with App-Volumes and Project Fargo.
  • How does Enzo work?
  • Is this a DaaS expansion to on prem, or vice versa?
  • How tightly will Enzo rely on EVO:RAIL type platforms?
  • How tightly is this integrated with what was once “DeskTone”
  • Will Enzo be open to other vCloud Air providers?
  • How does Enzo weigh up Vs Citrix Workspace Cloud?
  • IOT and smart homes

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