On a flight to San Francisco, of course!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with our product teams to pull together the most compelling Summit content yet. Over 60 breakout sessions to complement our Keynote presentations will help you transform the way your customers value virtual computing, which means more sales for you!

From technical sessions like design principles for large-scale hosting and cloud infrastructure to sales sessions on how to drive greater account penetration through the explosion in mobile devices, we’ve got sessions to give you something new and valuable to talk about with your customers.

If you want to learn how to position and sell Citrix OpenCloud to enterprises, accelerate PoC testing and unseat the competition, or get the most from our alliances with Microsoft and Cisco, this is the best investment you can make to be ready to sell new deals when you get home. And, of course, we’ll show you all of the latest enhancements to desktop, application, and server virtualization.

The registration site is open now! Take a minute to sign up and secure your spot. The session catalog will go live soon so you can pick and choose the most valuable sales and technical sessions for your business. Remember the Hands-On Labs and TechEdge sessions too!

I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco. I’ll be at our Partner Transformation Center – next to registration, so stop by and say hi. We’ll show you how to get the most out of your Citrix Partner Network membership.

Don’t worry we can help you! Just get your new Citrix and Microsoft marketing templates on the Citrix Marketing Concierge Demand Gen site. In this seminar in a box you’ll find: email invitations, email reminders, scripted power points, welcome letters, surveys and much more. You just need to customize the materials with your information and send it out to your customers and propects. Putting an event together has never been easier… It’s ready to go and it’s Free! Check it out.

There is a cry to the IT industry today to provide succinct information about Cloud Computing… especially among Small and Medium Businesses (SMB).  According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, over 52% of all small businesses are actually Small Office-Home Office or SOHO businesses.  The need for these companies to keep their operational costs down is tantamount to their success.  Because IT is a huge part of these businesses (everything from web site marketing to CRM applications) utilizing services online are a natural way for these companies to keep their costs down.

But in order for the small business owner to understand that online “Cloud” based services are available for reducing operational costs, they first have to know where to find them.  Awareness is key to the entire eco-system and making it easy for businesses to access these services can only happen if the SMB knows where to shop.  There are a variety of web sites that cater strictly to the SMB market, such as SMB Nation or the Small Business Administration in the U.S.  I recently saw a national TV ad for a site called the American Express Open Forum and was excited to check it out.  Unfortunately they are limiting the ability to post information to a “invited list only” at this point which radically reduces the idea of an “open” forum.

One additional way to find out more about available technology in this space is through the university systems both in the U.S. and abroad.  Many universities have teamed up with local (and sometimes worldwide) businesses to provide forums for emerging technologies.  The business school at Stanford for instance runs a program called the Social Innovation Review which educates the community about emerging business technologies.  Stanford, known for its tremendous ability to produce entrepreneurs is a great source for budding Cloud companies.  There are also technical colleges who are attempting to bridge the gap between small business and technology forerunners such as Cloud Hosting providers.  The business school within Georgia Institute of Technology has an Economic Development program to tie business and technology together.  Working with Industry the University of Cambridge also has a program dubbed the Cambridge Enterprise to develop community based influence of technology enhancements.

Search Engine Optimization is playing a huge part in these millions of businesses worldwide getting access to Cloud based hosted solutions.  Do a Google search on “Cloud Computing” and you will see a hit list of 31 million.  In the top 10 you can find salesforce.com and Amazon.  Which is ironic as what most SMBs are looking for has more to do with business productivity including email and some kind of web hosting than taking care of their sales leads or putting together VMs from Amazon.  Tweak the search to “hosted email” and Microsoft Exchange pops up all over the place.  Tweak the search again to “hosted applications” and you’ll receive back the most mixed up bag of information you’ve ever seen.

The SMB is not about technorati or the latest buzz words.  They just want to know how to get hosted applications that cost them less per month than setting up an IT group.  Citrix Service Providers meet the needs of these SMBs but must use the proper techniques to be found.  That is exposure through media mentioned in this BLOG as well as SEO nomenclature that will take you to the top of the Google Search Engines.  An SMB should be able to type in “Internet Applications”, “Hosted Applications” or “Windows Applications Online” and find you.  If they can’t, then Cloud computing for the SMB will remain a mystery.

Citrix XenApp customers have more time to join the XenDesktop 4 revolution – a new Trade-up to XenDesktop 4 Promotion is available now through December 31, 2010.  XenApp customers can double their licenses, triple their functionality and save up to 75 percent off the XenDesktop list price. Plus, they get VDI and much more, and keep all of the benefits and functionality of XenApp, including access to the latest technology – XenApp 6.

This promotion gives XenApp customers until the end of the year to join the millions of other customers already enjoying the benefits of the XenDesktop 4 revolution. Learn all about the new Trade-up to XenDesktop 4 Promotion.

Citrix Education announced the long-awaited availability of the Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) for Virtualization and Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) for Virtualization. These advanced certifications, the first ever of their type, help engineers and architects develop and prove the real-world skills required to deliver end-to-end virtual computing, from the data center to the desktop. Here are a few quick facts: 

• The CCEE certification focuses on the ability to combine operational planning skills with tactical design expertise, showcasing Citrix solution integration know-how. To attain the CCEE, students must pass several product-specific exams for Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop, and XenServer. The final requirement of the CCEE exam, A15 Engineering a Citrix Virtualization Solution, features complex simulations, enabling students to showcase their extensive knowledge in a performance-based setting.
• The CCIA certification is the highest Citrix designation and focuses on best practices for virtualization analysis and design. CCIAs possess the skills required for successful implementations, and help organizations reduce costs and time while increasing performance. To achieve the CCIA, candidates must have achieved the CCEE, and pass one more final exam, A16 Architecting a Citrix Virtualization Solution.
• Candidates who achieve either of the new certifications are guaranteed to be current for a period of three years, thanks to our new advanced certification policy. 
• Those candidates who possess earlier versions of the CCEE and CCIA may be eligible for the update path, which allows them to attain the CCEE and CCIA by just passing the respective final exams. To learn more about this option, including recommended experience and training, go to www.citrix.com/CCEEupdate or www.citrix.com/CCIAupdate.

For more info on the CCEE and CCIA for Virtualization, visit us at www.citrixeducation.com.

Hosting IT as a Service has been around for 20 years.  Just ask the guys from Connections for Business, a Managed Service Provider in Fort Lauderdale, who has been in business for the past 30 years.  Yeah, I said Fort Lauderdale.  You may ask, I thought the only business in South Florida is tourism?  What is a technology company doing there?  Well, they are making a business… a good business and have been around for many, many years helping the SMB get out of the IT business. 

According to Jonathan Garber, VP of Business Development for Connections, they were The Cloud before there was one.  When I tapped him for more on this statement, he merely replied that they have been providing IT as a Service to the state of Florida before the “Cloud” ever existed.  That companies across the state have been using Connections as a way to off load all of their IT needs and focus on the things that make them money.  In one particular case, Jonathan told me about a firm who was more than willing to cut a check each month for thousands of dollars to Connections because the flexibility to use an outside service provider increased his profitability by leaps and bounds.  Connections provides services to scores of companies with the same value proposition.

It was refreshing to hear from a service provider who not only knows their stuff, but has the background and customer references to show what a top notch IT as a Service company looks like. In fact, they have been so dedicated to this business, they actually developed their own Network Operations Center software front end.  It’s called Connect Smart and it worked so well for them, they decided to put some shrink wrap around it and sell it to other service providers.  Now Connections for Business runs their own IT as a Service business, sells their NOC software and is poised to be a market maker in the southeast region of the U.S.

They have the ear of a large U.S. telco as well who is looking to use them as an incubation center for SMB IT services.  You can imagine that with all of this success, Connections was elated to hear about the Citrix Service Provider program. In fact they were one of the first to sign up. Jonathon told me, “Citrix provides us with the scalable solution to deliver Enterprise level power to the SMB market and access via the widest range of end devices. We are looking forward to expansive growth as this market continues to emerge. The SMB is ready for IT as a Service and we believe that together with Citrix, we can deliver.”

Connections is one more example of a company who is seizing the opportunity to meet the demand of the SMB in the IT as a Service space.  If you’re looking for a company who can do the same for you, just check out our partner locator.  Once you’re on the landing page, just click on the “Hosting Providers” tab. You can find Connections for Business and over five hundred other CSPs worldwide to help you out.

Partners and Citrix Certified Instructors (CCIs) are now able to learn about the latest technologies with two new FREE Learning Labs for XenDesktop and XenApp. Citrix Learning Labs provide a great opportunity to explore new releases of Citrix products and integrated solutions through a video tutorial and hands-on lab exercises.

Now Available:
CLL-003-1W Customizing Virtual Desktops with Citrix XenDesktop - This Learning Lab gives students hands-on experience with how XenDesktop extends virtual desktop delivery to specific user types and addresses specific use cases. It demonstrates how XenDesktop can be configured to provide the best end-user and administrative experience using Group Policy Objects, Citrix policies, and additional features. Students learn to:

-    Edit the default settings in the XML blob
-    Use Microsoft Group Policies with custom ADM templates to distribute registry changes to modify the 
     default behavior of specific virtual desktops
-    Use Citrix Policies to create customized virtual desktops

 CLL-004-1W Integrating Citrix XenApp with Microsoft App-V - This Learning Lab provides hands-on experience with configuring the necessary components to deliver App-V sequences to users. Students will learn how to:

-    Publish an App-V sequenced application for access by Windows and non-Windows client services
-    Use the Merchandising Server and Citrix Receiver to deliver the App-V Desktop Client to end-users
-    Use Citrix Dazzle to execute the App-V virtualized application

Get Started
To access Citrix Learning Labs, go to www.citrix.com/learninglabs, and log in to My Citrix.

Please send questions or comments to citrixlearninglabs@citrix.com.

Citrix Education is pleased to announce the availability of free XenDesktop/Branch Repeater training, CBR-100-1W Accelerating Citrix XenDesktop with Citrix Branch Repeater. This 1-hour self-paced online course consists of a presentation and feature demonstrations given by Robert Plamondon, Senior Technical Writer for Citrix. The course covers the benefits of implementing Citrix XenDesktop with Citrix Branch Repeater.

Upon the successful completion of this course, students are able to:

• Identify the benefits of implementing XenDesktop with Branch Repeater.
• Describe new Branch Repeater features, such as SSL acceleration and Branch Repeater VPX.
• Identify best practices for successful Branch Repeater deployments with XenDesktop.
• Configure the Branch Repeater Quality of Service (QoS) feature for Citrix XenDesktop.
• Install Branch Repeater VPX.
• Configure SSL acceleration for XenDesktop.

Ideal candidates for this course have prior knowledge or experience on Branch Repeater. Go to www.citrix.com/brtraining for more information, including registration. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to learn how you can accelerate your XenDesktop deployments with Branch Repeater.

In a lead story,searchvirtualizationdesktop.com is reporting that VMware® View 4.5 has slipped from its planned July 14^th date and the key profile management feature they were planning to integrate into View 4.5 has been shelved.  What a surprise. 

You may remember that VMware acquired certain assets from RTO Software, most notably Virtual Profiles to enable effective persona management for VMware View.  Not so fast.  It seems that the RTO Software R&D team (five people according to the VMware FAQ) that was to be integrated into the VMware R&D team has been unable to make Virtual Profiles work, and that VMware View will become generally available “sometime this year” due to severe compatibility issues with Windows 7 and multiple bugs surrounding graphics and VMware’s PCoIP protocol, according to the searchvirtualizationdesktop.com story.   

I went back to read the VMware FAQ from last February to see what VMware had committed and is now not delivering.  It’s quite disappointing.  

If I were a VMware partner closing out Q2, and hoping to fill my pipeline for the rest of the year, I’d be more than a little unhappy with VMware.  I’d be really embarrassed to go back to my customers and explain that due to the VMware “oops”, they need to adjust their desktop plans, or buy additional products, driving up the cost of their implementation.   

Remember, we’ve said all along that there is a vast difference between understanding desktop virtualization from the desktop point of view, like Citrix® and Microsoft® have done together for twenty years, and trying to cobble together a limited function VDI solution from the datacenter out, as VMware is doing. 

That is why we put together the Rescue for VMware VDI Promotion.  You can replace your VMware View licenses today with the best virtual desktop solution from Microsoft and Citrix VDI – for free. Through the Rescue for VMware VDI promotion, eligible customers can trade-in their VMware View licenses with same number of Microsoft VDI Standard Suite subscription and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition annual licenses, up to a maximum of 500, at no cost.  Follow this link to find out more on My Citrix.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) implementations have their own, unique challenges. Healthcare organizations are concerned with selecting a vendor, complying with a myriad of regulations, and basically transforming the way healthcare is delivered to their patients.
Given the transformative nature of an EMR implementation, virtualization is often just a side thought for health CIOs. Therefore, I’d like to shed some light into the topic and share my personal top 5 reasons to pursue this topic further- starting with the centralization of medical records data.
For a quick definition of the term itself, please refer to yesterday’s blog.
I assume that the backend database for your electronic health records reside in a single, centralized datacenter. Through global server load balancing, you may have already implemented site-to-site redundancy, but that’s beside the point for today’s discussion.
So, traditionally, you would have rich client applications or web browsers on the user’s endpoint to consume and manipulate the medical records data. This automatically implies that a lot of health data moves to and from the datacenter and often to remote locations where it is challenging to maintain a tight grip on security.
Application or Desktop Virtualization can solve that problem. Both of these techniques move the client software piece (or web browser) to the datacenter, where it executes securely inside your facility. The health data never even leaves the datacenter. The user interaction happens via a secure, high performance protocol (such as Citrix’ HDX in the XenApp and XenDesktop product lines) and gives the user a snappy interaction with the software, while only exchanging screen updates and keyboard/mouse events between the end user and the datacenter. Additional data streams pertaining to peripherals, printers, USB devices, scanners, and client hard drives are possible, but can easily be disabled to promote further security.
No data ever makes it to the end point, and therefore reducing the risk of HIPAA/HITECH covered security breaches. In addition, user sessions can be audited to establish an independent trail of information in case the regulators or courts require a closer look.
If you’re curious, I encourage you to check out Dan Feller’s Ask the Architect site. Dan has a wealth of information on desktop and application virtualization and associated whitepapers and reference architectures.
Florian Becker
Twitter: @florianbecker
Virtualization Pulse: Tech Target Blog
Ask the Architect – Everything Healthcare