Simplify Application Packaging and Management for Citrix DaaS and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) with Cloudpaging AI
We just announced Cloudpager’s new integration to with Citrix Studio last week. In a previous blog post, we highlighted some of the benefits of this integration (including video demos).
Today, let’s dive deeper into the benefit of using Cloudpaging AI – Cloudpager’s AI Packaging feature – to accelerate application container adoption and the turnaround time for ever frequent application updates in Enterprises.
Addressing The Massive Blindspot of Package Managers and Application Patching Services
Cloudpager provides a curated list of hundreds of consumer off-the-shelf applications for its AI Capability to package with just a few clicks. You can also drag-and-drop your own MSI files and input their own custom installer arguments for Cloudpaging AI to package. Between these two AI Packaging options, you have fully automated packaging for most applications present in typical enterprise environments.
This feature is not just a repository of pre-packaged applications or simply wrapping vendor installation media for deployment. AI Packaging in Cloudpager uniquely packages the applications on-demand, utilizing AI to first determine how to optimally package the application into a Cloudpaging application container. It then packages and publishes the application to your Cloudpager tenant for assignment.
With the launch of Cloudpager’s integration to Citrix Studio, this enables the assignment of Cloudpaging containers via the Citrix App Packages feature in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD).
“Your traditional package types, such as .msi and exe, are suboptimal for all desktops. The advances in the decades since .msi was initially released, in terms of package formats and new tech, is huge. If you’re still working with .msi you know the problems with uninstalling, upgrading, and maintaining a performant environment.”
Jim Moyle, Principal Product Manager for Windows Cloud, Microsoft
The reality is, vendor installation media is still predominantly made up of .exe and .msi installers, which are sub optimal for all desktops. Nowhere is this more obvious than non-persistent virtual desktops and server-based session hosts. If you install vendor installation media into non-persistent desktops using traditional tooling, the fact of the matter is once those machines are rebooted the installation of that update is lost. Installing application updates with vendor install media into these types of machines typically requires updating the applications in an image and then reprovisioning the machines to that updated image.
Reduce Application Management Cost and Complexity
In a well architected Citrix environment, such as with a multi-pod or site design, updates can be rolled out in a non-intrusive manner. However, this comes with significant cost due to the complex infrastructure required. This also adds requires IT operational overhead to support and maintain, compounding costs. Even with a multi-pod design, when an urgent break fix is required, it can be hard to avoid user disruption.
Cloupager and Cloudpaging application containers make application updates, including break fix deployments low risk and non-disruptive. Installing application updates via Citrix App Packages means an update can be introduced in minutes and published without ever needing to touch the respective image. This is because applications can be virtualized on-demand. When the user launches the application from Storefront for example, the application will be virtualized from the Cloudpaging CDN within the brokered session using the updated version seamlessly to your employee.
By executing applications in containers with their own dedicated virtual file system and container sandbox, the typical application challenges such as application conflicts, unclean uninstalls, incompatible legacy applications etc. can be resolved. Cloudpaging application containers can work for virtually any Windows application including large complex applications such as Visual Studio and Autodesk Revit as well as stubborn legacy applications.
Workpods are Perfect for Citrix DaaS, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, and Physical Endpoints Alike
When using Cloudpager, applications can be delivered via Workpods directly to your employees on their virtual desktops, application updates can be forced at any time (even when employees are logged into their desktops), and rollbacks can be applied in real time to revert applications back to a known good state without a desktop state change (e.g., an image update) or requiring employees to log in/out.
Cloudpager works just as well for physical endpoints, whether in the office or roaming, with the ability to allow application container use offline. You can even apply a policy to require employees to come back online and provide line of sight/reauthenticate after a specified number of days to continue using the applications.
Cloudpager is cloud-native application management with the scale of the cloud but with the tremendous speed Numecent customers have grown to expect.
Some Numecent customers who have been utilizing Cloudpaging application containers for years have transformed their physical endpoints into stateless desktops meaning even their physical desktops behave like non-persistent virtual desktops where the desktop is repaved every time it is used. This provides a consistent experience across physical and virtual desktops and means when a catastrophic incident such as the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor update gone wrong was encountered, getting back to a good state just entailed waiting for the vendor to revoke the erroneous update and then reboot the devices.
AI Packaging + Cloudpaging application containers help reduce the burden and overhead incurred when managing application updates across all desktops without duplication of effort.
Cloudpager and containers can help modernize overall end user computing for enterprises today and into the future making adoption of the latest desktop technologies a breeze.
Conclusion
Applications have been the most complicated aspect of End User Computing for generations. There are thousands of applications and it’s rare that the packages for any two applications are the same which means there are countless variables and configurations that IT needs to understand and address.
AI Packaging can help unravel many of the applications encountered by Administrators and make getting started with Cloudpaging application containers in CVAD easier than ever before. This combination also makes managing and maintaining applications more streamlined and those ever-frequent application updates in Citrix environments become simpler, faster and lower risk.
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