Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Freeware
Citrix Receiver for iPhone
Citrix, the folks who provide a popular way to run applications on remote servers using a thin client, have announced the immediate availability of Citrix Receiver for iPhone (click opens iTunes). We saw the Citrix guys running around the show floor at Macworld Expo this year, surreptitiously demoing an early build of this app to anyone who walked within range.Receiver is a free app that enables iPhone and iPod touch users to run any Windows application as a service on their device. Connecting to a Citrix XenApp environment, iPhone fans can securely work with apps from Oracle, SAP, McKesson, Cerner, and other vendors. The only information sent over the wireless connection consists of screen taps and gestures, keyboard input, and screen updates, so it is simple to keep data secure.
Receiver for iPhone uses Citrix HDX to deliver high-definition content to the device so that Flash and Silverlight content can be viewed as well. Flash on an iPhone -- now there's an idea!
In enterprises such as hospitals that depend heavily on Citrix already, Receiver is going to be "well received." This should help Apple's iPhone sales efforts in the enterprise market really take off.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bitfool said 4:25PM on 5-07-2009
>"The only information sent over the wireless connection consists of screen taps and gestures, keyboard input, and screen updates, so it is simple to keep data secure."
Nice try. Just what is the magic used by this app to make it simple to keep data secure? If a "screen update" contains a SSN connected to a Name, what is securing it, and why is more secured than other approaches? Security is never simple, and never complete, despite any claims of vendors of "secure" products. This reads like it was lifted from the gab at Citrix, rather than having actually downloaded it and tried something. That's ok, but I'd prefer a disclaimer that it is just such an article, or evidence to the contrary (like a hands-on description of using it, personally).
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atuck said 4:32PM on 5-07-2009
Explain this whole flash compatibility thing if you would Mr. Sande?
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Tomahawk said 10:02PM on 5-07-2009
The flash content is actually running on a virtual machine which is then running on some server at your company. What the Citrix Receiver and HDX does is redirect the display of the display from this virtual machine onto the iPhone. For the IT geeks out there there is a little more info about this here: http://bit.ly/bX3Bl in regards to more info about the HDX see this demo here: http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_1686824.asp
Anthony said 5:20PM on 5-07-2009
The security is based on the fact that no actual plain text data is sent to the device. Only an encrypted image file. Think of it as a dumb terminal. The work is performed on the Citrix server and then the graphic of the screen is broken into several thousand encrypted and compressed bitmaps. Only the bitmaps make it to the device which are then uncompressed to show you some (considering it's a phone) high quality graphics. However, if of course you have an app that has SSNs in the app and you walk around showing them to everyone then yes it isn't all that secure... but there is no fix for the dumb user.
The flash support is sort of a lie... So Citrix is normally based off a product called XenApp which runs on top of Windows Terminal Server. Since Windows natively supports flash, then when you are connected to the receiver then you are going to be able to see flash content. However, the one thing that Citrix does not do well is full motion video. So don't think you'll be playing that cool new flash video game anytime soon, however if you have some flash content that isn't chocked full of video you'll be good to go.
The receiver is definitely geared towards the business/enterprise crowd.
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iGO said 5:31PM on 5-07-2009
Being "forced" to use Citrix when I work remotely, I can attest that it makes my laptop/desktop a "dumb terminal" Nothing ever reaches my desktop, data-wise. It's all images that evaporate. It sucks because I can't actually save any data to my local drive.....
At any rate, this iPhone app seems very cool, for those times that I can't be in front of a 'puter.
Now, how do I get my MIS to "turn on this interface" for me?
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Ferd said 7:45PM on 5-07-2009
To add to Anthony's response about ICA encryption, Citrix Access Gateway provides SSL VPN connectivity to the Citrix servers in your environment. So you get the ICA encryption (ICA is the protocol Citrix uses), and then SSL on top of that. You aren't saving any of that data to the local device, it all runs on the XA server.
iGo, they can let you save if they want to. You can even set it up to map your local drives to the remote system. All depends on your security policy.
I'm already using Receiver through an Access Gateway. We even have ours set up to take an RSA token for authentication in addition to my AD password. Now all I need is an RSA soft token that runs on my iPhone and I will be complete.
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Ferd said 7:48PM on 5-07-2009
The 4.5 and 5.0 XenApp have much better full-motion support, called SpeedScreen. I have seen Flash animation work just fine.
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Bob R. Kenyon said 12:57PM on 5-08-2009
Only problem with this is running Windows stuff on your iPhone. Yuck.
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Alaa said 6:35PM on 6-08-2009
Extentrix has released Mobile Console for Citrix XenApp iPhone Edition. This new tool from Extentrix gives administrators instant, convenient access to their Citrix XenApp tools via the elegant iPhone interface. It runs under Citrix Receiver for iPhone.
Download it free: http://www.extentrix.com/emc/download.aspx
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