Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) Reviews

In the beginning, the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops was designed for our COVID-19 business continuity plan. We use a lot of Citrix Desktops (for around 600 people). The desktop was built for out of office work, whitelisting clients, for all work done with a personal computer, and for the business continuity in a white room with dedicated computers. Today, we have changed the total design using enterprise laptops for everybody, so the desktop is gone and we only publish applications for end users.

The profile between the Citrix published applications and the broker profile on the laptop is permitted to use the same profile and the same settings for the user in Citrix and the laptop. It is a mix of both environments.

We are deployed in two parts: Belgium and Luxembourg. In Belgium, we have around 20 sessions concurrently, which are 100 percent deployed on-premise. In Luxemburg, we have around 400 sessions concurrently.

Today, we use only Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. In the past, we also used Citrix Gateway to bring Citrix on a government forum or working with a personal computer, though this part is totally void today.

While we use it on-premise, we are using it more and more for cloud applications and infrastructure. Workers run applications on-prem to segregate correctly the access rights. All our tasks are on-premise, which is a positive for our security and the regulatory authority.

There was a scenario where a user built very small films for internal communication on his laptop via the VPN using the NAS file system. It's not the best solution. This takes around 45 minutes. With this use case, we installed all the tools on Citrix. Now, the user can build his film in a maximum of two minutes. It was an incredible improvement for the user. Today, this is the best case of Citrix usage for end user experience, using the full capabilities of the server in the data center.

Our organization supports Zero Trust as a security strategy. However, the Zero Trust strategy in the bank is done via the VPN. Also, all laptops connected out of the bank are via VPN. We don't use the full Citrix landscape to do this today.

For all applications in the bank, we set up Active Directory groups to have access rights. All users can access a lot of applications, but the rights are given one by one for each application. Therefore, it's very centralized at the Active Directory level.

The business continuity plan was 100 percent based on Citrix and the client. Today, it is a little different because everybody has a laptop, but the main applications are still available on Citrix. This offers the more flexible possibilities of managing business continuity plans and performance everywhere for end users.

In Luxembourg, a user can use business applications with Citrix inside the building. Then, outside the building, that user cannot use the business applications because we cut the usage of Citrix.

We can provide tons of applications with different settings, behaviors, and operating systems. It is the same way for the user. Then, we are totally transparent for the user to use a lot of totally different applications, which is the most important part of Citrix today.

Remotely, the user can use his personal computer with a VPN to the bank, as there is not always WiFi. We have seen very low boundaries in some cases. With the Citrix application, we provide very beautiful applications. We are running without a lot of resources in the data center and the user doesn't see it. It's totally transparent for them.

In the bank, a major part of all our applications is Microsoft App-V. If App-V is at end of life, then we need a new technology to replace it. As of today, I haven't seen in Citrix Studio that there is a new technology embedded directly in it to replace App-V.

We have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for more than 10 years. We started with a full complement of Citrix features, but today we only use a small portion of it. This changed over the years. 

The stability of the solution is great. It is not evident to me whether the lack of stability is linked with the new data center, due to a Citrix issue or new component in the new data center. However, in the past, Citrix was very stable. 

In the beginning, we had more than 70 users with only one reboot per week. I have heard that some companies rebooted every day at night. For us, that was not mandatory. The solution has been very stable with the condition that our applications are packaged correctly.

We plan to migrate to the latest LTSR version next year.

The scalability of Citrix is incredible because we use the Provisioning Services (PVS) solution. With this technology, the same image can be streamed to all servers. With this technology, I don't need to install, reinstall, nor repackage it. 

Globally, we have 600 to 700 users with Citrix access in the company. Their roles of Citrix users are private banker, operations, and sales. 

There is not so much support because the solution is very stable. However, we use Citrix ShareFile, and for this, all calls are solved within five hours. Citrix is very good for our usage today, and we haven't had a big issue.

We have been using Citrix for a long time. Building and first implementing Citrix was a little complex. We have a lot of components. However, when you manage all of them correctly, then it's easy. 

The first time, it was a little complicated to build the first images. Today, with versions, this is easy. We built a new image in four hours, which is incredible. Over time, we have improved the function and management of Citrix.

Implementation in the bank was in three steps: 

1. We implemented it in a test environment, like a beta environment, with a beta tester and system engineer to improve the solution and application, then checked everything was working. 
2. In the acceptance environment, we set up all the same settings as production. We asked key users to validate everything: applications and behaviors. 
3. We copied-pasted this environment (if everything was okay) into production for end users and key users. It had totally the same environment with the same behavior. Then, we validated all the environments from acceptance to production directly on the same Citrix environment. 

Acceptance and production are only one big environment where acceptance and production workers cohabit in separate tools and where all users can go into the acceptance or production environments by default. When we validate a new disk or function in a new application, we go to acceptance with just an Active Directory group to validate the solution. This is really great.

In the beginning, we used a partner as an integrator to help us design the Citrix and implement the first part. We have been using a partner for maintenance and upgrades because we don't have the knowledge at this moment about the newest version of Citrix. 

As partners, we used Acidos to build our first version, then we used SecureLink. However, I don't think the Citrix partner aspect of SecureLink's company exists anymore.

We deployed the first bit with our partner. We did this with seven or eight system engineers to build and go through tests. That was the first version. Today, for Belgium and Luxembourg, we have only three system engineers to maintain and publish new applications.

With Citrix, we saved a lot in the past for the business continuity plan. Today, it is not so much, but we still make money because the performance is there.

If you look at cost, then you must look at the number of users that you are covering. If you are only using it for some users, then it is very expensive. However, if you have a massive amount of users, then it begins to be interesting to use Citrix. Because once you are managing thousands of servers with one guy, your maintenance costs decrease per user.

Another major cost is Microsoft because Microsoft Windows costs them. We also need a license for SQL server, Windows Server, and Citrix Remote PC. These are extra costs for the solution that are not covered by the license.

We haven't evaluated similar solutions. We don't have any other solutions for replacing the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop. Therefore, I think we will stay with Citrix for a long time.

We use other tools for analysis, not the Citrix tools and analytics. We don't use the Citrix tools because all our firewalls are not Citrix Firewalls.

All our detection and monitoring are not done via the Citrix environment because we have other tools for that.

There has been a lot of improvement in the application. We use the application for so many different things and areas of security. It is incredible what we can do with Citrix. It provides total transparency for us.

Today, it does not provide the flexibility of being used on any device because we use it on enterprise laptops. However, in the past, users could use their personal computer. It covered a lot of models and brands, and it was totally transparent for us. We only asked, "Please install Citrix receivers," then the rest is transparent for the system engineer. 

It is not clear for this moment if we will increase the usage of Citrix, because we don't know where the user will be working going forward (at the office, home, or another country).

I would rate it an eight out of 10. It's not only Virtual Apps and Desktops. Also, other products that I see from Citrix on the market are good. They look for the best performance solution for the end user.

I am using Citrix Workspace when I work from home. I use Citrix to remote in.

Since COVID, we are able to work. That is how half the state is functioning right now, is through remoting in through Citrix Workspace.

The most valuable feature is connectivity. The remote connection is the reason we are using this solution.

We have other in-house software that we use to fix our issues.

This solution is resource-intensive, it takes a lot of Bandwidth and a lot of the resources of the server.

In the next release, I would like to see it support dual monitors.

I have been using Citrix Workspace for the last seven months, since March.

We are using the latest version and we just completed an upgrade.

I support the helpdesk and use this solution to remote into other users' PCs to help them with their issues, such as word processing, email issues, and things of that nature.

It's stable, providing you have the bandwidth to run it. Also, it depends on your internet provider.

It's not really glitchy. It's just that if you have the bandwidth to run it.

We have at least 25,000 to 30,000 users using it in this state.

We have directors, we have nurses, and we have doctors. We even have our state schools on it. It's like everybody that works for the state is using it.

It's a scalable solution, I have no issues with it.

I have never had to use technical support.

I have never used another solution. This is the first time we've ever had this situation come up, and the first time that I've ever had to work from home and remote in.

The initial setup was pretty easy. 

All that you have to do is download the Workspace app to your home computer, and you have to load the receiver onto your work computer and connect.

For others who are interested in using this solution, I would say try it, go with it. It's not a bad product. Just make sure that you have the bandwidth to run it, and a decent PC, because it is resource-intensive.

I would rate Citrix Workspace a nine out of ten.

The primary use case is for organizations with a large number of users, such as warehouses or production facilities. In these environments, users access a few applications from multiple computers. Citrix Workspace simplifies the deployment of these applications by installing them on the session host and distributing them to the users. 

From my perspective, the most valuable feature is the manageability. Citrix Workspace offers a wide range of options and makes the deployment procedure much easier.

Some customers find the price to be a significant factor. They have a hard time understanding the extra cost of the services. However, in the long term, I have seen a more stable business due to using Citrix Workspace.

I have been working with Citrix Workspace for many years.

It has been very stable. I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

It is a scalable solution. It is easy to scale. Around four customers are using this solution. 

The deployment varies depending on the client and their specific requirements. For example, some of our clients in the healthcare industry have specific applications and data that require special handling.

The deployment model depends on how you define a cloud-based solution. We host the session host and deployment in our data center, and customers connect directly to our data centers from their offices. So, we provide the infrastructure, but it may differ for different users based on whether they use the workspace plugin or have their own clients.

It's a monthly subscription. Some customers find the price to be expensive. Because first, they have to pay for Microsoft Remote Desktop user accounts, and then on top of that, they need Citrix accounts. It's not exactly double the cost, but it's a significant increase. Some customers are sensitive to costs, but some have started to understand why they need to pay for all the services.

If you only have a few users, it's hard to justify the costs. So using this solution will depend on individual use cases. 

I like this solution. Overall, I would rate it a ten out of ten. 

I use Citrix DaaS to connect to devices.

Citrix DaaS is pretty slow. In Citrix DaaS, I have to connect to the computer in another form and always have to keep waiting. Sometimes, I click on Microsoft Teams or Outlook, but it doesn't work at all. We use a few PDM (product data management) software in another company, and they're pretty slow through these things. So we always have to keep waiting, and a lot of time goes wasted.

The speed and connectivity of Citrix DaaS could be improved. Most of the time, it doesn't work for any colleagues. At least one or two employees complain about the solution's speed every day.

I have been using Citrix DaaS for a month.

Citrix DaaS is not a stable solution. I rate Citrix DaaS two out of ten for stability.

I rate Citrix DaaS ten out of ten for scalability because it is scalable and it's been used in a huge form. Around 1,000 users are currently working with the solution in our organization.

The initial setup of Citrix DaaS is very easy. I rate Citrix DaaS ten out of ten for its ease of initial setup.

Getting access to Citrix DaaS took a while, but installing the solution took five to ten minutes. Just one person is enough for the solution's deployment.

I won't recommend Citrix DaaS to other users. I don't know if there are any other better solutions. However, Citrix DaaS is also a good solution if the speed issue is resolved.

Overall, I rate Citrix DaaS a four or five out of ten.

I'm an infrastructure architect.

We frequently use the Workspace Environment Manager service, which is a valuable feature. We're also happy with the interaction between our collaborative tools. 

I think the ITSM adapters need to be enhanced. Currently, even though it says the solution is a PaaS, there are a couple of activities happening between the cloud and on-prem environments that could use some additional detail. Even though we see our collaborative tools working well with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, on a practical level we face challenges due to various factors. Our users are in different regions; their endpoint device is in one location, but the collaborative controls are in a different data center. Given our VDA infrastructure, accessing collaborative tools is becoming a little challenging. It might be fine on paper, but when it comes to actually working with it, improvements could be made. From our end, we need to make sure our collaborator tools are working as expected.

I've been using this solution for four years. 

The solution is stable. 

When you compare the cloud version to the on-premise Citrix environment, the cloud version wins out. You don't need to worry about scalability. Once you have a license, you just start adding the load you want. We have around 8,000 users. 

We contact technical support when we are in urgent need. They have a process where they ask some basic questions and that seems unnecessary as it wastes time when you're looking for a rapid response. We get an engineer on the line and he asks the basic questions and then a new person is brought in and starts all over again with the same basic questions. 

If you know your prerequisites, the initial setup is simple. Without the proper advanced knowledge, you may end up in a situation where you will not be able to achieve what you need or want. 

We evaluated Horizon View as a possible option. Whenever anyone thinks of a virtual desktop environment, they think of Citrix. Horizon View comes into the picture when you don't need any extra features, just a reliable and secure infrastructure. Citrix fitted our needs more closely. 

There is still some room for improvement so I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

The challenges we were looking to deal with by using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops were: How do we protect our data and how do we make sure that our data is not leaked out? We have deployed Citrix for most of our critical applications so that our users are using the Citrix VDI.

We have deployed it for a small number of users, between 1,500 and 2,000. To deploy it, we are using some Cisco hardware that we had available and some of the existing hardware within our data center. We have it on the web right now, but going forward, we are also moving some of their solution to the cloud.

We are using the application virtualization capabilities, on-premise desktop virtualization, cloud-hosted desktop virtualization, remote PC and physical desktop access.

The solution simplifies adherence to industry regulations for data protection and for compliance. Overall, from a cyber security point of view, in terms of data leakage as well as patches and upgrades that are required to be deployed to multiple endpoints, Citrix makes it very simple. That clearly helps in terms of mitigating risks at a very early stage.

The security of our intellectual property and data is enhanced because of the roles we have defined very precisely. People only have access to the data they are supposed to have access to.

The most valuable features of Citrix are the remote desktop advantages and the remote desktop environment for our remote users.

When it comes to the security and protection of critical business applications and desktops, it works very well. We were able to achieve what we were looking to do using the Citrix solution. It provides all of the features required for the protection of data. For example, we don't want to allow any copy/paste of data to an outside environment, and we are able to restrict the VDI to not allow any data transfer from the VDI to the local laptop's hard drives. That is one of the greatest advantages the solution provides. We also lock the USB.

We get complete control using the single, cloud control pane of Citrix. Using it, we can control the deployment of VDIs, which helps.

There is room for improvement because it has a lot of dependency on Active Directory and other things. If they could come up with something similar and native, a complete solution portfolio would help.

We have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for about one year.

As of now, we don't have any plans to increase our usage. Our consumption has been good during COVID, but we have been able to achieve what was required from our existing licenses.

There were some issues initially, in terms of the requirements, and there were some delays.

We did not have a previous solution.

Once we entered into an agreement to use the service, it took three to four months before we could start using it. The initial setup at our end to use the service took about a month to a month and a half. It was complex to some extent in our scenario, but as we worked on it and did a deep dive, we were able to do what was required for the deployment.

In general, they met our expectations for services delivered on time, on budget, and on spec.

We had our enterprise architect team and the project teams deploying the solution, as well as the respective business people who would be working very closely with their end-users. It was a team of 45 to 50 people. For maintenance, we have administrators as well as people who handle the required setup for the environment and who do troubleshooting.

We had help from a Citrix partner. From a project management standpoint, I would rate them at eight out of 10. The project management resources are not available from Citrix itself. They have to rely on partners and, sometimes, the partners also have to rely on the OEM.

The prices quoted initially were on the very high side, and there was room for negotiations, considering the competition and the options that are available directly from Microsoft now. The Microsoft options were not that mature at the time we were looking for a solution.

We looked at other solutions to some extent, but Citrix had already been in the market for a long time, so we started using Citrix. 

Citrix does not have its own hypervisor and VMware was very close competition. It would have also been a good, equivalent choice and there would not have been a problem using it. Then we looked at the financials and that aspect was left to the procurement department for negotiations. Overall, we gave a slightly higher rating to the VMware product, but senior management said that they would like to go with Citrix.

My advice would be to look at the options available and at your specific requirements. You need to find the best match for the overall integration of your ecosystem in terms of how it is with Office 365. And you may be using multiple SaaS solutions. The product you choose should be able to match all of those requirements.

The biggest lesson is that, during COVID, Citrix has come in handy for us for working remotely. It's a good solution.

The solution provides the flexibility of being used on most devices, but not on every device. It covers 80 to 85 percent of devices. In terms of the user experience, when we asked employees to work on the VDI, they were not entirely happy, considering the performance compared with a normal laptop or a desktop. But overall, the user experience is good, an eight or 8.5 out of 10.

The solution has enabled us, as an organization, to embrace thin-client computing, but I wouldn't say we have seen savings as a result. Citrix cannot function alone for organizations that have Office 365 deployed. Office 365 forces you to pay for a lot of other solutions and services that Citrix also has to rely on.

Because this is a tech product, it has an app used for application virtualization.

Your servers are in a remote location, but your server is in UK and you are operating from Australia (theoretically). In this case, you want only Outlook to be used by your end users, therefore what you do is virtualize an Outlook from the servers located in the UK, but your users are using it in Australia as if it is in their local machine. It would be as if the user is utilizing Outlook in his/her machine, but it is running on the servers located in the UK.

This is an app. It virtualizes the application on your desktop. Supposing you have to enter it, you need to login and you will see the Outlook icon on the console. Outlook will open in your system, but the server is in the UK, which is utilizing the resources. Not your local resources, but those in the UK, the UK servers.

It helps you to virtualize your application, so whenever the user needs the application, they have it in virtualized form.

It is user-friendly and easy to use. It helps in many ways. The installation and maintenance are good.

It is progressing and improving day-by-day. Before, we had 6.5 version. The recent one that we used was version 7.1.5. 

There are many latency and slowness issues, which are things looked after by Citrix. 

There have been many issues with stability.

Scalability depends on the server and the number of users in the organization. You need to have capacity planning on how you are providing to users. If the server is a bit old, like the hardware is HPE Generation 4 servers, you are requesting the server to handle more than a hundred users, then it will work slowly. Therefore, capacity planning and the way you plan the architecture is very important for this.

Tech support is good. I would rate them as a seven out of 10.

Previously, I was using XenApp, but there were different products, like ThinApp and VMware. 

The initial setup is simple.

It is affordable. The product, XenServer, is free to use, and XenApp has a one month free license. The licenses are affordable, but the support is a bit expensive, though worth the value.

For three or four years, there were no other options other than the Citrix XenApp. Now, we have ThinApp, VMware, and one more application from Microsoft. While we have options now, XenApp stands out above the rest.

This is a very good tool for virtualizing your application. The support is good. It is affordable. I would recommend it to users who are looking to use XenApp. 

Our clients use the solution to access the virtual machines in their organization. We don't give laptops to the employees. Everyone comes to the office. We have a virtual machine ready for them. Everything, including files and file sharing, is done in the virtual environment. Even the machines they access for work are in the virtual environment.

The Citrix Workspace application is very good. We can use it across multiple platforms, like iPads and other devices. The interface is seemingly easy to use. It feels like a PC. The functions that we get along with it, the ability to switch to the keyboard, and the gestures are perfect. It is easier to troubleshoot. If we have any issues, we just have to reset Citrix to fix the problem. It has really great applications.

The product has a lot of background processes running. Citrix duplicates multiple processes. We can see multiple instances of Citrix running in the task manager. We don't get that problem when we use a remote desktop. Sometimes, when the user launches VDI, they click it multiple times if it is a bit slow. So, multiple instances appear. It’ll be great if Citrix can eliminate that.

I have been using the solution for about three years.

The tool is stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten. Our users do not face any problems. Either they get a connection, or they don't. If they don't get a connection, it's always because multiple instances are running in the background.

The tool is highly scalable. The only problem is cost. Everything else is perfect. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten. Our clients are enterprise businesses.

The technical support team is efficient. The quality of support depends on the organization that is providing the support.

Positive

I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. The deployment is quick and straightforward. It takes half an hour.

The tool is expensive. A license costs $1000. If we want the best solution, we must pay for it.

It's pretty easy to handle and train employees. It's quite good. People can easily learn the product. Troubleshooting Citrix is pretty straightforward. People who want to use the solution must plan the budgeting properly. They must plan how many people will use Citrix because there shouldn’t be any unused licenses. The licenses are really expensive. If we plan it incorrectly, we will have a financial crisis. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.