At this week’s Microsoft Ignite conference in Atlanta, Citrix introduces the hot combination of XenDesktop and XenApp 7.11 with Microsoft’s preview of Azure N Series GPU-accelerated virtual machine instances.
This Cloud-optimized architecture gives you two sizzling new ways of providing a high-definition experience to your user community while benefiting from the agility and elasticity of cloud computing. First, you can deliver the full power of a dedicated high-end GPU to designers and other “power users.” Second, you can enhance the experience of your knowledge worker constituency with cost-effective GPU acceleration of their Windows desktop, web browser, Office apps and data visualization apps.
Let start with the first use case. Within the N Series, Azure NV instances are based on the NVIDIA® GRID® and Quadro® technologies and the Tesla M60 graphics card which features dual high-end Maxwell™ GPUs, each with over 2,000 CUDA cores and 8 GB of video memory. These GPUs provide top performance with professional graphics applications used for CAD/CAM, AEC, GIS and PACS. Citrix XenDesktop leverages NVIDIA’s trusted Quadro® pro graphics drivers, so you can confidently virtualize any 3D application, including ESRI ArcGIS Pro, Siemens NX, Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS, and more. Citrix XenDesktop uses the NVIDIA GPU not only for rendering, but also for low-latency multi-screen encoding. And our HDX technologies deliver these apps from the Windows 10 CBB virtual workstations in the Azure cloud to any device running Citrix Receiver: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, Chrome OS and Android.
The benefits of this solution are huge.
You no longer need to purchase and maintain expensive graphics workstations; users can get great performance with much lower cost endpoints since the “heavy lifting” is all done on powerful virtual workstations in the Azure cloud. And workers will love the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere, on any device.
But what about the knowledge workers in your organization? Azure-hosted XenApp on the NV-Series provides the snappy user experience they need to be highly productive. You can choose between Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2012 R2 virtual machines. And each Maxwell GPU is shared by multiple concurrent users, keeping costs reasonable. Cloud computing with XenApp on Azure lets you deliver scalable and elastic IT services on demand, with the best user experience in the industry.
How can you evaluate the Azure NV-Series preview and the user experience of XenApp and XenDesktop GPU-accelerated Windows apps and desktop in the cloud? You’ll need to “get in line” by joining the waitlist at gpu.azure.com. It will be worth the wait.
