Citrix announced XenDesktop and XenApp 7.8

At the Citrix Summit, Citrix announced XenDesktop and XenApp 7.8. They also announced some things from XenDesktop and XenApp 7.7 but that is already so we will look at what is new in 7.8.

• Simplifying app management by layering apps onto a master OS image with AppDisk. New AppDisk technology allows admins to package and manage applications independent of their master OS image alleviating the management complexity of multiple, departmental-based images. AppDisk makes it easy to install or update applications without impacting the golden desktop or server image.

• Integrated AppDNA compatibility testing for applications layered with AppDisk.AppDNA extends the layering benefits of AppDisk by providing instant application compatibility reporting and layer reordering for assigned AppDisks. Now an admin will be able to validate and remediate any OS or inter-app compatibility issues before distributing the AppDisk applications to their employees.

• Seamlessly manage Microsoft App-V packages from the Studio admin console.XenApp and XenDesktop admins may now use Citrix Studio to manage the distribution of App-V applications to virtual desktops or XenApp servers without requiring separate App-V server and database infrastructure simplifying administrative processes and eliminating additional infrastructure costs.

• Improved app publishing experience. Large enterprises manage hundreds of applications across thousands of servers. The newly improved Studio has a more intuitive user interface for app publishing as well as new features that enable the admin to publish apps to multiple delivery groups, improved tag management for easier management and tracking across machines, apps and delivery groups.

• Enhanced graphics performance for virtual desktops. Optimizing the graphics performance for virtual desktops is critical to adoption and this release brings even more enhancements including the combination of our innovative Framehawk display technology with our high performance HDX 3D Pro graphics acceleration for Windows 7 and 8 virtual desktops.

• Higher scalability for innovative Framehawk technology. Newly released Framehawk remote display technology provides a brilliant user experience under very challenging network conditions and provides real-time interactivity on networks where packet losses impair performance. This release brings scalability enhancements that enable over 40% reduction in memory footprint, up to 20% increase in CPU efficiency, and over 50% improvement in bandwidth efficiency when scrolling via touch input, as well as a significantly increased frame rate for a smoother user experience.

• And more … Just to give you a few: the ability to record virtual desktops sessions using Session Recording for VDI to pinpoint and speed troubleshooting; enhancements to Citrix StoreFront like self-service password reset; and vertical specific enhancements like passing through the client name to published apps, which is very important for healthcare administrators.

Source: https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/01/11/one-summit-two-xenapp-xendesktop-releases-7-7-and-7-8