Citrix Enhances High-Definition HDX Technology to Accelerate Virtual Desktop Adoption

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) today announced enhancements to its market-leading HDX™ technology in Citrix® XenDesktop™ 4, delivering the best high-definition experience for every user, while utilizing 90 percent¹ less bandwidth than competing solutions. The new HDX enhancements in XenDesktop 4 ensure the best possible user experience for multimedia content, real-time communication, USB peripherals and 3D graphics, regardless of the network or endpoint device. With added HDX Adaptive Orchestration capabilities for multimedia, XenDesktop 4 dynamically optimizes performance and bandwidth to fit each unique user scenario, delivering the best user experience at the lowest possible cost. In addition to the new HDX enhancements, XenDesktop 4 adds a broad range of new features that significantly enhance the flexibility and ROI of desktop virtualization, making it a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate desktops worldwide (see separate announcement today).

"Two key areas will drive large-scale adoption of desktop virtualization: the ability to deliver a rich, high-definition experience to any user, anywhere, and the ability to deliver the right type of virtual desktop to the right user,” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president of product marketing, XenDesktop product group. "With the new HDX capabilities in XenDesktop 4, along with Citrix FlexCast™ delivery technology, XenDesktop 4 provides the best desktop for every user, with the best user experience -- whether to a design team collaborating on an intensive, graphic-rich application from a single source file or a task worker located in a remote area with low broadband access. Enterprise desktop computing is ready for the change, and XenDesktop 4 offers customers exactly what they are looking for.”

Delivering High-definition User Experience Requires More than a Protocol

The biggest challenge when optimizing user experience for virtual desktops is balancing performance with network bandwidth. Some technologies improve the responsiveness of the desktop, but use so much bandwidth that organizations would be forced to add expensive network infrastructure to scale beyond a few users. Other approaches conserve bandwidth, but result in an unacceptable lag in a host of problems that impact user experience, including poor responsiveness to mouse movements, slow screen refresh, out-of-sync audio and video, and distorted screen display.

The Citrix ICA® protocol has long been credited with enabling the centralization of applications for 100 million users worldwide without compromising user experience. When it comes to delivering today’s full range of virtual desktop technologies in an increasingly dynamic world, however, no single protocol can do the job. An enterprise-class virtual desktop solution must be able to deliver any type of content over any type of network, and be able to dynamically adjust as network conditions change. It must handle any type of device in any location, regardless of where the desktop is hosted. It must allow users to seamlessly switch between devices, networks and locations with no change in performance. And it must do all this intelligently, leveraging processing power and bandwidth in the most efficient way possible for each unique connection scenario.

Citrix HDX technology includes all the power of ICA, but goes well beyond the protocol level to handle today’s new realities. The new advanced optimizations in XenDesktop 4 include enhancements for Flash multimedia, webcams, voice-over-IP (VoIP), audio, 3D graphics and more. Purpose-built to optimize performance and bandwidth, the HDX technology enhancements in XenDesktop 4 represent an extensive set of solutions from the datacenter to the desktop that react to different applications, bandwidth and latency challenges, to ensure a high-definition user experience across any network, to any device.

• HDX MediaStream for Flash – Accelerates multimedia performance sending Flash content in its native compressed format to the user’s device and leveraging the local processing power for playback to provide truly local PC-like performance.
• HDX RealTime – Enhances real-time communications by enabling support for webcams and improving voice and music audio quality while still consuming minimal bandwidth.
• HDX Plug-n-Play – Enhances support for specialized keyboards (such as the Bloomberg keyboard) and dictation devices like the Philips Speechmike; Also provides users with flexibility to customize their multi-monitor configurations with special screen arrangements (such as U, L, T, reverse L and inverse T shapes) and different sizes, resolutions and orientations.
• HDX 3D (announced in Sept. 2009) – Extends desktop virtualization to advanced users of CAD/CAM and engineering applications, even over WAN connections. HDX 3D enables organizations to source talent on a global basis, rapidly provision those workers with high powered desktops and professional 3D applications, yet maintain centralized control over intellectual property.
• HDX IntelliCache – Optimizes performance and network utilization for multiple users by caching bandwidth intensive data and graphics throughout the infrastructure and transparently delivering them as needed from the most efficient location.

These technologies interact with each other through the use of HDX Adaptive Orchestration technology. This added adaptive orchestration technology intelligently assesses the capabilities of variables such as the user device, latency and network bandwidth to determine the optimal delivery method, and to decide whether client-side or server-side rendering will provide the best experience. Working together, these technologies help XenDesktop 4 deliver the highest performance while utilizing 90 percent less bandwidth – balancing the best performance with the best bandwidth utilization to deliver the best user experience of any virtual desktop solution.

A more detailed list of the technical features included in each of these HDX categories is available on the Citrix corporate website at http://www.citrix.com/hdx.

Availability

XenDesktop 4 with its new HDX enhancements will be generally available on November 16, 2009. More information about XenDesktop 4 can be found at http://www.citrix.com/xendesktop4 as well as through the supporting resources listed below.

Secrets, Lies and VDI – Dispelling the Myths

Citrix’s desktop and application virtualization solutions, including XenDesktop 4 and XenApp 5, will be featured in a global, online event on October 20, 2009. This virtual event titled, "Secrets, Lies and VDI: Dispel the Myths and Uncover the Truth about Desktop and Application Virtualization” will feature presentations, chat sessions and online demos from Citrix, as well as participation from key Citrix partners such as CSC, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Intel, NetApp, Microsoft and Wyse and over 25 sponsors and Citrix Ready™ partner exhibitors. Citrix will also be providing an exclusive preview of this event for all certified channel partners on October 13, 2009.

Supporting Resources

Follow Citrix XenDesktop on the web for the latest news and information at:

• Citrix XenDesktop 4 page
• Citrix XenDesktop Community
• Citrix on Facebook
• Citrix on Twitter: @XenDesktop and #XD4
• Ask the Architect: Dan Feller on desktop virtualization
• Free XenDesktop technical training

About Citrix

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is a leading provider of virtualization, networking and software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies for more than 230,000 organizations worldwide. Its Citrix Delivery Center™, Citrix Cloud Center™ (C3) and Citrix Online Services product families radically simplify computing for millions of users, delivering applications as an on-demand service to any user, in any location on any device. Citrix customers include the world’s largest Internet companies, 99 percent of Fortune Global 500 enterprises, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers worldwide. Citrix partners with over 10,000 companies worldwide in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1989, annual revenue in 2008 was $1.6 billion.

For Citrix Investors

This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with revenue growth and recognition of revenue, products, their development and distribution, product demand and pipeline, economic and competitive factors, the Company’s key strategic relationships, acquisition and related integration risks as well as other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citrix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.

The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion and is subject to change without notice or consultation. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not a commitment, promise or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions or incorporated into any contract.

Citrix®, XenDesktop™, FlexCast™, XenApp™ and HDX™ are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

¹ Based on internal tests against competing technologies