Destination: Hybrid is all about building the future of Citrix around what you need. We’ve heard from you that a positive employee experience is critical to your business’s success. So we’ve been working on creating the employee experience technology that you can use to set your employees up for success. 

Over the past few months, we have released a variety of features that fall under this category. You can access all of these features with a Citrix Universal subscription, as part of our goal to meet you where you are, on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid. The major updates include background blur, secondary ringtone, and Simulcast for Microsoft Teams, Security features for Citrix Enterprise Browser, HDX graphics stack improvements, and EDT Lossy on Citrix Gateway for improved audio. 

We asked, and you told us. Employee experience is incredibly important to your business. So we’re giving you the tools that you need to create a stellar employee experience, no matter where those employees are working from. See how we are making improvements below.

Citrix Enhancements to Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams drives collaboration across a number of organizations, and we’ve released even more features for better collaboration and an enhanced user experience. 

Background blur for webcams

We added blurring for Microsoft Teams within Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops a few quarters ago, but we’ve made further updates and users can now blur background video in applications where blurring is not native. This feature targets applications like social media, communications platforms, and those used in call centers, to give users the ability to blur their backgrounds which can only be done in a virtual environment. 

Secondary ringtone on another device

Users can now choose a primary and secondary device for incoming call ringtones from Microsoft Teams. The call will ring through the primary device, like a headset, first. Then the call will ring through the secondary device, like speakers. With two devices ringing at the same time, users will be less likely to miss a call, reducing the number of missed transactions or missed sales from unanswered calls. This feature is available on Windows 2203, Linux 2209, and Mac 2209 releases and later.

Low-bandwidth Simulcast

Most of us have run into the issue of one user on a call having a lower-quality device or connection, which reduces the quality of the video for everyone. With support for Simulcast inside of Microsoft Teams, each client can send out multiple video streams to the meeting server, which then sends out the appropriate video stream for each endpoint. This feature eliminates the lowest common denominator problem by sending out video at 720p or 360p, for example, to the slower endpoints so the video resolution is not constrained for all meeting participants. Simulcast is available in Windows 2303, Linux 2303, and Mac 2303 releases and later.

Citrix Enterprise Browser

An often overlooked part of organizational security is the consumer browser. IT departments can create secure servers and corporate resources, but when those resources are accessed through a regular consumer browser, that poses a risk to the security of corporate data. But how do you make a browser more secure and still create a good user experience? The Citrix Enterprise Browser, built on a Chromium base, provides a consistent user experience while securing access to corporate resources. 

Take a closer look at the Citrix Enterprise Browser in action to see how to add it to your environment.

Security features that don’t impact user experience

The Citrix Enterprise Browser contains a variety of native security features for admins to configure. This includes adding watermarks, restricting copy-and-paste, printing, and downloading features. However, even with all of these features applied, the user experience is nearly identical to a native browser with multiple tabs, bookmarks, and extensions. Admins can even choose to enable popular features like saved passwords, push bookmark lists out to users, and create lists of allowed and forced extensions. 

We also improved user experience through the Citrix Workspace Browser extension, which streamlines application and desktop launches from the web client. This new extension improves user experience by detecting the user’s locally installed Workspace app and launching the application through the virtual desktop automatically. 

Better graphics for better visual experiences

We’ve also improved the HDX graphics stack for a high-definition graphics experience for users. This includes the addition of 10-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) virtual desktop sessions for enhanced encoding and decoding capabilities. With HDR, users get high-quality images and videos in an extended range of colors, greater contrast and brightness, and a customizable white luminance level. Our improved graphics stack also increases the ways that our technology can be used, including cases like remote medical imaging. 

EDT Lossy for a reliable end-user audio experience

Most remote workers use real-time multimedia in their work. Whether that be for training, communications, or team collaboration, they need a reliable audio connection to ensure a consistent experience. If your team is experiencing audio lag or poor quality audio, Enlightened Data Transport (EDT) Lossy can enhance the audio experience for users. 

EDT Lossy improves the audio experience for users connecting through networks with high latency and packet loss. Enlightened Data Transport (EDT) is a Citrix-proprietary transport protocol that delivers a consistent user experience on long-haul connections while maintaining server scalability. During normal conditions, both EDT and EDT Lossy provide similar results. However, EDT Lossy provides a better audio experience compared to EDT because EDT Lossy allows for packet loss in transmission without resending multimedia content for a more real-time experience. This technology ensures a consistent and stable experience for remote workers. 

Unmatched employee experience technology

Citrix has invested in a variety of employee experience technologies over the past 3 quarters to create your best user experience yet. This means more productive employees, and more consistent online experiences no matter where your employees work from. For more information on new Citrix user experience technologies, take a look at our latest What’s New blog. Give your teams the tools they need to succeed, no matter if your environment is hosted on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment, with Citrix. 

Read all four blogs in this series:

Disclaimer: The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion and are 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.