At Citrix Synergy 2018, we showcased our vision for how we’re enabling organizations to change how people work with the Citrix Workspace, the industry’s most comprehensive secure digital workspace. As promised, 90 days later, we have delivered on the beginning of this exciting transformation. The culmination of work across all of our product groups has resulted in a truly unified solution to improve end-user productivity and enhance organizational security. The Citrix Workspace is a big change for us — we recognize it’s also a big change for our customers. And, significant changes don’t happen overnight, so we’ve designed the rollout of the Workspace experience to be gradual, with our customers’ most valuable assets in mind — their people.
As I said enthusiastically on stage during the Day 1 Keynote at Synergy, the Future of Work is here, NOW. Let’s take a look at everything that is available today!
Security controls for SaaS and Internet
Enterprise apps have expanded far beyond basic Windows apps. And today, a digital workspace includes a wide variation of application types including SaaS, web, mobile, Windows, and Linux. Of these apps, SaaS apps are likely the easiest to deploy, yet the hardest to secure — until now. Users need instant access to their SaaS apps from any device, while IT needs the ability to monitor and control the sensitive intellectual property contained within those SaaS apps.
Today, Citrix Workspace enables organizations to deliver a consistent end-user experience without compromising their environments. While traditional single sign-on (SSO) solutions only provide an optimal end-user experience with strong authentication, there is a need to go further to provide granular control of user actions once they successfully log in to SaaS apps, specifically those applications that are not approved by Enterprise IT. In addition to protecting data in SaaS, with the proliferation of malicious content, like malware from the internet, it is important to protect users and the infrastructure that may become affected by users accessing this content. Citrix Gateway service, provides SSO to SaaS, web and Citrix virtual applications.
Building on top of that solution, we’re announcing the general availability of Citrix Access Control, which not only offers SSO, but also offers additional granular policy controls for the access and use of SaaS and internet content, enabling secure internet browsing. Combine Citrix Access Control with advanced analytics — user behavior analysis and risk scores — and the overall security posture of the secure digital workspace is much stronger. To learn more about this service, go here, or join us for an upcoming webinar.
Transforming any device into a digital workspace with Citrix Workspace app
One of the key highlights from Citrix Synergy was our introduction of the Citrix Workspace app. If you are long-time Citrix customer, it should come as no surprise that Citrix Workspace app is built on 25+ years of Citrix Receiver capabilities. However, it is important to make the distinction that Citrix Workspace app is much more than a rebranded version of Citrix Receiver.
Our vision for Citrix Workspace app is to securely provide all digital workspace resources and user productivity needs in a single unified experience, on any device, anywhere. Today, we are pleased to announce that this vision now is a reality. Citrix Workspace app powers our secure access to SaaS solutions through the introduction of an embedded browser. Citrix Workspace app works in conjunctions with the other Citrix Workspace services to enumerate and deliver your existing virtual apps and desktops within the workspace. Most importantly, by the end of the month, Citrix Workspace app will work with all Citrix Cloud services to deliver a new user interface that aggregates and secures access to SaaS, web, mobile, Windows, and Linux apps, as well as desktops and files.
As holds true with any cloud release, the rollout of cloud services and capabilities doesn’t happen overnight. The Citrix teams will be rolling out these new services and capabilities gradually, over time, to both end users and admins for the best experience. Depending upon their respective cloud service configurations, Citrix Cloud services admins will see the new Citrix Workspace U/I changes over the next few weeks. Existing on-premises customers are encouraged to upgrade to Citrix Workspace app between now and the end of August to ensure that they can capitalize on the latest enhancements in our next, upcoming release of XenApp and XenDesktop.
Unify cloud and on-premises with Site Aggregation
Ultimately, with Citrix Workspace app, our goal is to give users the ability to access everything they need to work seamlessly, unifying their actions. That means giving them the ability to access their virtual apps, desktops, SaaS, and web apps, all from a single interface.
We want to make one thing very clear: the Citrix Workspace experience is uniquely designed so that it can meet the needs of diverse organizations and varied deployments. If you are currently delivering virtual apps and desktops with an on-premises XenApp/XenDesktop environment, you can still take advantage on the new Citrix Workspace user experience as it rolls out this month. You can use any other Citrix Cloud service in parallel with your on-premises XenApp and XenDesktop site to incorporate your virtual apps and desktops alongside your SaaS, mobile, web apps, and content. Citrix Workspace has released site aggregation capabilities that allow you to integrate your IT-managed XenApp and XenDesktop site with other Citrix Cloud services. You can learn more here.
Managing device proliferation with Citrix Endpoint Management
When customers first looked to Citrix as a trusted partner to address some of their biggest challenges, they initially tried to solve the challenges brought on by a proliferation of devices entering the enterprise. Several years ago, we helped address that dilemma with Citrix XenMobile. However, as with any technology, we needed to broaden that solution to address challenges beyond just device management. We’re doing that with Citrix Endpoint Management.
Citrix Endpoint Management, the evolution of Citrix XenMobile, provides the best value for device management and a whole lot more. In addition to standard UEM capabilities for managing a broad set of device types including: mobile, PC, Mac, Chrome, and Citrix Ready workspace hub. Citrix Endpoint Management also includes unique capabilities for enterprise-grade productivity applications such as Secure Mail, Citrix Workspace app, flexible Mobile Application Management, micro-VPN for securing application data in transit, Office 365 mobile application management, legacy device management for Windows 7 and 8.1 devices, and security feeds to Citrix Analytics.
Citrix Analytics aggregates and correlates information from the endpoint perimeter, across network traffic, users, and files in Citrix environments. It generates actionable insights that enable administrators to proactively handle user security threats, improve application performance and help optimize IT operations. Citrix Endpoint Management provides critical information to the Citrix Analytics service, including device location, compliance, usage, and much more.
What’s next?
First thing: get excited! It’s time to begin your transformation to the future! As we progress through the month of August and onward, you’ll see continual updates of the various aspects of the Citrix Workspace experience, specifically updates to the user interface. We’ll also be putting together adoption kits that will allow you to easily communicate these changes to your users as they go live. Get ready and stay tuned for updates!
Register now for the Citrix Workspace webinar on August 16.
