Investing in User Experience End-to-End Hi Def End (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the native application)

Investing in User Experience End-to-End Hi Def End (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the native application) -

Traditionally Citrix penned and set the def high user experience under the brand HDX. HDX certainly includes many of the goodness that Citrix has offered to provide seamless user experience in virtual IT environments. end-user optimization requires leveraging computing, LAN and server-side resources capacity is a key element of what makes XenDesktop the industry leader in virtual computing solution.

With the introduction of mobile optimization SDK new XenApp 6.5 and new enhancements to the Citrix Receiver native clients but I think the definition HDX should perhaps be expanded. The end user experience is indeed significantly improved these technologies and, in some ways, maybe even went beyond what might have waited a virtual computing experience any user! Receiver has always provided a workspace for the business and store unique applications for Citrix end-users. It is through this app store that customers could subscribe to business applications and fully integrated in their existing jobs (for Windows and Mac users) or quickly and easily accessed from the vast majority of tablets and smartphones. In addition the receiver offers greater flexibility and self-service also allows for end users to request new applications or services (or in some environments, entire desktops) to be perfectly delivered to any device, anywhere. However, subtle in some cases, more explicit in others, Citrix designed the significant native device support in each version of the receiver as well. If an end user is using a tablet, the end user can take advantage of the native touch controls to move their virtual applications. You want to remove an app on an iPad? Do as you would any other app: tap and hold and virtual applications start to squirm and the end user can touch the "x" to remove the application. different touch capabilities in a BlackBerry PlayBook would be reflected in the client's native receptor for the PlayBook. You want to anchor a virtual application on a Mac? An end user just does the same thing they would do to anchor a native application. Is it different on a Windows PC? Yes, and of course Citrix Receiver behaves natively on Windows devices.

Seems like the obvious? Well, it's not. These indigenous behaviors take additional engineering and design work. More importantly, they take priority. This is a key differentiator for Citrix. The full development of end to end on providing the best experience for the end user is a priority and an important part of what and how we do what we do. This is also something that is difficult to articulate to customers when they compare our solutions in head-to-head against competitors. Ultimately a customer-centric IT wants XYZ running application in XenDesktop compared to the same application running on an infrastructure of competitors, or, even worse, they want to see just a Windows desktop on a iPad without modification. Why is it worse? Just the Windows user interface was never designed to run on anything but a Windows PC. Customers demand the lowest common denominator to compare what Citrix is ​​against what the competition. However, talk to someone who has installed the infrastructure XenDesktop and Citrix Receiver running and optimized experience and HDX customers become the strongest advocates and most vocal to our investments in the experience of the end user !

At the end of the day simply moving a Windows application from a device to another, or running a Windows desktop on a tablet is the easiest part of the challenge. Operate in a way that is optimized for the actual productive work - making the seamless and intuitive experience - is the real heavy lifting. Unfortunately, this is part of the solution that is most difficult to quantify for potential customers. However, as we all end-users, are too clearly aware of the benefits of an optimized device, the native experience. The spectacular growth of the mobile applications business also reflects this trend. An important part of these specific devices, native apps offer local access to content based on the Web. If there was no value in native applications then you expect that the demand for these local applications would not exist or would decrease. The exact opposite occurs.

So what does this mean for the future? All the hype around HTML5 standards and a richer Web experience can significantly improve the end user experience for everyone. Will never match the native experience? I do not think so. By leveraging the computing power and local resources for local applications will still be able to provide a richer interface and higher levels of performance. Does HTML5 powered applications bridge the gap? The short answer is probably yes. However, as expectations for the calculation of experiences continue to increase - think that the end user can do on a mobile device today compared to their expectations five years ago - the computing power applications ( bandwidth, graphics, CPU, display, battery life, etc.) will only increase. There is no way to accurately predict what the market will look like in a year, let alone five. What we know is that universal access to cross-platform applications will be more important (and more difficult) and the management of controlled access (on the side of it). We know that consumerization will increase as the driver for the agnostic access. These are the challenges to offer native device experience. That's why Citrix has invested in technologies such as mobile Optimization SDK 6.5 XA. Change how the application looks and functions across devices. Make it simple, easy and automated. That's why we invested where we and why these investments will continue for a very long time.

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