Citrix Drives Secure Mobility with XenMobile 10

Desktop virtualization firm Citrix is getting off to a fast start in 2015. After acquiring virtualized storage player Sanbolic on Monday, the company is moving ahead with a new release of its XenMobile enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution. With XenMobile 10, Citrix makes promises on both sides of the mobility fence. The new release works to optimize the experience for end users while automating deployment and management processes for IT admins. Citrix' acquisition of Sanbolic is aimed at making enterprise data and workloads "highly available and elastic based on changing business demands.”
The design of XenMobile 10 has been improved to facilitate streamlined workflows in its suite of integrated mobile productivity apps. The idea is to provide a strong business experience for mobile device users. Citrix is betting IT teams will appreciate the unified EMM platform that makes it easier to deploy and manage mobile apps, data and devices with security and scalability to accommodate growing mobile workforces.
“Citrix delivers a powerful EMM solution, and we are looking forward to rolling out the new release,” said Jesper Blomqvist Rydstrom, head of workplace, defense and security company Saab. “The simplified architecture in XenMobile provides a streamlined experience for IT, enabling us to scale and manage a growing mobile workforce in an efficient and highly secure manner, while preserving end user experience.”
Strategic Integrations
Chris Marsh, principal analyst of Enterprise Mobile App Strategies at 451 Research, said Citrix is going beyond having just a comprehensive EMM solution with XenMobile 10.
“Through integrations of its Worx apps and ShareFile service for example, it is able to deliver strong mobile user experiences, which will appeal to companies wanting to invest in mobility to drive greater worker productivity without introducing disparate and fragmented sets of technologies that they might otherwise have to deal with,” Marsh said. “With these kinds of innovations, Citrix is one of now only a handful of vendors leading the pack as consolidation begins to force out the long tail of EMM players.”
The integration between WorxNotes and Microsoft Exchange makes possible the syncing of Outlook Notes on desktops with WorxNotes on the mobile devices. That lets mobile users keep all their notes in one place for storage and retrieval from any desktop or mobile device anytime, anywhere.
The WorxNotes and ShareFile integration creates a workflow for secure document capture and storage. For example, the WorxNotes app lets create notes from text, audio and images or videos captured by a device's camera and automatically syncs them to ShareFile.
Security-Driven Scalability
The XenMobile 10 release is certainly timely. Citrix’s research shows enterprise mobility initiatives have become a fundamental way of supporting workforce productivity, increasing business agility.
As mobile growth continues, the company has discovered that enterprises need a scalable and flexible infrastructure to manage and support a growing number of mobile devices and applications. At the same time, there is immense pressure on IT to provide security-driven access to apps and data on any mobile device without sacrificing a familiar user experience, according to Citrix.
“The first thing I noticed was how clean the GUI was in the new XenMobile release,” said Scott Solomon, a field technical consultant for Ingram Micro. “It is very simple and easy to navigate. Overall, I think this version is a huge leap forward to an already fantastic product. I expect this will accelerate adoption rate due to its simplicity and ease of deployment.”
The new XenMobile client is available for XenMobile customers to download. The server enhancements will be available in the first quarter of 2015.