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

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.

You can manage all devices and users in your company. You can respond rapidly to user requests. If you use the thin client, you can save energy.

You can simulate disaster scenarios for our virtual world and you can increase your virtual security.

You can create Linux virtual desktops with XenDesktop, but only Red Hat and SUSE versions. I would like to be able to create Linux virtual desktops for VMs running Ubuntu, Kali and other Linux versions. Citrix should add this features to the next version.

I would like applications to open faster. Citrix can increase applications' startup time.

I have been using XenDesktop for nine years.

I had a stability issue with Citrix XenServer. If you experience a problem with XenServer, you must know Linux commands, unlike with VMWare ESX. You can solve any problem with the GUI on VMWare ESX. With Citrix, it must be developed.

Citrix has a very easy setup GUI in versions 7.x.

Implementation varies from company to company. If you have more than 10,000 users in your company, I prefer to perform implementation in-house.

Regarding Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop licenses:

• Example 1 - You have 100 users in your company. If all workers use Citrix products during work time, you can select the Citrix user/device license. (For any company.)
• Example 2 - If your company uses a shift system (60 workers in the morning, 40 workers at night), you can use a Citrix concurrent license. (For example, any university.)

This Citrix product is flexible, easy to manage and faster than similar products such as VMWare Horizon.

The initial installation plan should be well-done. It must be well-constructed and it must be very well-optimized. Anyone can install this product, but not everyone can manage this product.

My rating refers to version 7.x of the product. I rate earlier versions lower.

We use the solution for general purposes.

Citrix’s performance is good.

The solution is expensive.

I have been using Citrix Workspace as a partner for five years.

The product is stable.

20 users are using this solution.

The initial setup is very easy.

I recommend the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We're a community interest company. We store all of our data about our clients and the work that we do on Citrix Workspace.

Within our company, there are five people using Citrix Workspace.

The ease of access and the confidentiality and security that it provides is what we like best.

There is no recycle bin, which is a problem. When there are technical issues, sometimes we can't get on the cloud. Obviously, when that happens we are completely lost because we can't access any of our data, but I guess that's a problem that all clouds have.

I have been using Citrix Workspace since April 2012.

We've been using Citrix Workspace for eight years and we've never experienced any serious issues regarding the stability. We're very happy with it.

We've been on the same package since we first started, so I can't really comment on that, but as of yet, we haven't had any issues regarding the scalability.

We've just changed our technical support and they seem to be really good. Our technical support has been good so far.

The initial setup was very straightforward.

We don't have a lot to compare it to, but we certainly think whatever we pay is worthwhile at this point in time. It's very reasonable.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Citrix Workspace a rating of nine.

I would recommend Citrix Workspace. I would particularly recommend it for a small company like ours. It is exactly what it said it was. From the word go, we've got out of it what we expected. In this day and age, to have that security of knowing that your data is protected is worth its weight in gold. I would happily recommend this solution to somebody, and indeed, I have recommended it in the past to other businesses that I've come in contact with.

I mainly use it for VPN connections to resources like my physical laptop, which is currently in the office, while I'm working remotely. We use it for all the virtual machines.

The goal is to simply give users the possibility to securely connect to their laptops or virtual machines, in some cases.

It's not a cloud solution. We use Virtual Apps and Desktops with Windows 10 in the same way as servers with, for example, Linux systems. There is no dedicated infrastructure.

I'm not a Citrix administrator, I'm just a regular user.

From my perspective, when the COVID pandemic occurred, and the whole company had to work remotely, the users who used this solution had a better feeling that the remote system is stable and reliable, in comparison with a regular VPN connection with a VPN client. The difference with Citrix is that only the things you move on your screen, like the mouse and keyboard keys, are transmitted. In a normal VPN connection, the whole connection to the network resources in the company are transmitted and this costs bandwidth. The Citrix solution is much more convenient for the user.

The most valuable feature is the gateway to a remote connection, to a physical or a virtual PC. Compared to a normal VPN client and connection, the connection via Citrix is more stable and does not consume as much network bandwidth.

I have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for about two years, but I am familiar with previous versions like XenServer and XenDesktop. So my overall experience with Citrix goes back about six years.

It is a stable solution. But if we don't have a stable network in the user environment, it is very sensitive to things like that. The user experience when using the solution’s technology remotely depends on network stability. When the network is stable the experience is positive, but when there is some fluctuation of the network speed, Citrix can freeze the screen or mouse at that moment, and this is not good for users.

One of the advantages of Citrix is its automatic reconnection. If a connection is broken for a second or two, Citrix tries to reconnect. And if the loss of connection is less than, say, 15 seconds, the user will have the same moment on his screen as before the connection was lost.

As I review the possibilities of adding a second site or more users, or advantages like multi-screen, I believe this is a scalable solution.

I am familiar with Check Point's VPN and VMware Horizon. These are comparable technologies to Citrix.

At various times I have used the VPN client from Check Point. This solution is a very stable and secure solution.

Citrix is oriented toward web application access with access to VDIs or regular, physical PCs. 

And VMware Horizon is a solution oriented strictly to give access to give to virtual desktops. Citrix is a set of technologies which can be used to access physical and virtual machines, while Horizon is mostly for virtual machines and Check Point is mostly for accessing physical applications and to secure the traffic.

Each vendor, in upcoming versions, adds this or that possibility, so that the products will be similar in terms of their roadmaps.

It's easy. We have a very clear idea of the setup. But from a financial point of view, it's not so easy to deploy it quickly.

This was a kind of PoC, to see what Citirx looks like. After financial considerations and discussions, we decided to stay at this stage for the next year or more.

In terms of our initial setup, from the beginning of COVID pandemic, starting in March of this year, about 50 users have started working with the Citrix connection to their laptops and VDIs, while about 100 users have worked with regular VPN. The Citrix users mainly work with detailed applications which need long connection times. They are IT employees, like me, and a couple of people like the CEO and others from management.

There are two or three technicians who administer it.

Based not only on the cost of Citrix, but additional costs like firewalls, IPS, and other solutions, the total cost of switching users from using normal laptops with VPNs to connection via Citrix were so huge that the CEO of our company decided to postpone the deployment process.

Because we are at the beginning and have started from scratch we are, on the one hand, in a very convenient situation. But on the other hand, we must spend a certain amount of money for infrastructure on things like routers, connections, etc.

Building a real farm of VDIs could improve the work for users, but this is a strategic decision for our company. We are reviewing technologies like VMware Horizon and others. In each case, the cost is high and in the current pandemic/financial situation, our company has decided to postpone plans to move until next year or later.

I would like them to make the licensing easier to understand. Licensing is quite complicated for apps or processors or servers. When you try to adopt a solution, licensing is per bundle. But for a regular user, from a business point of view, there is no strict license: For example, access to VDI will cost X, and that is all. Instead, in each case, there is a license for access costs, while per-server the cost is that, and to another type of server it costs that. No vendor will tell you, "This is the cost per user." In each case, the answer is, "It depends."

My advice would be to be patient. Each solution has its pros and cons.

We use the following in protecting our environment: Citrix Gateway combined with users from Active Directory and RSA tokens, as well as Remote PC Access.

I am able to use the solution from my private laptop, my company laptop, and I don't see any difference. I imagine the behavior should nearly be the same across other devices.

I have a few small companies as customers who need to have access to data stored in a centralized site from remote locations. We provide them with this tool so they can do their work in that type of business model.  

XenApp is fast and secure and reliable for remote connections. It is a solution that is completely different than older Windows solutions like Remote Desktop, Server Gateway, and Runtime Brokers. These Windows solutions have never really produced satisfactory results for me.  

There are a few things I would like to see improved. First, the price can be improved for sure. Microsoft does not have support for this type of solution to make it easy to use the product. But in using Citrix, I can provide remote access support. The features I use with Citrix cannot be found in Microsoft products with any solid alternative. RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), which is the Microsoft solution, is limited. If you try to go with the solution in the cloud, the RDP is still very slow because there is an HTTPS overlap on the RDS (Remote Desktop Services), and RDP is not secure enough. They also could improve support for the integration of these products.  

The other thing I would be looking for in the next release is that they make improvements to roaming profiles. I think they have already made some additional efforts to improve this. It's good, but it could be better. Most of the problems I come across are caused by profiles being incorrect. That should be fixed but it may not be possible on the Citrix side because it is really a Microsoft issue.  

I have been using that for 10 years already.  

If I look back at the issues I had over time, there really have not been too many. Most of the issues are Windows Server related, they are not problems with the Citrix solution.  

I think the product is very scalable. I would say it is really infinitely scalable from my experience.  

I have 16 customers and the customers use XenApp every day, all day. But I can scale that as needed as my client base increases.  

In the beginning, the tech support was very good, but today like every other company, Citrix is limiting its support solutions. Right now I would say that the technical support ranks as a six or seven out of ten. Sometimes it is very good and sometimes I find the solution faster by myself than they find it for me. But overall, it is not really impressive and not as good as it was.  

They certainly should improve support. On the other hand, the price of support isn't very much. You have to buy the maintenance every year to get the new versions and support access. For that small price that they charge for the support, you can't expect to have services that are really very good. In the past, you had to buy the products and you have to buy the support separately. Today the cost is more for the product alone. On average the vendor will gain more, but it might be better to have better support packages that you can pay extra for, especially in this case.  

For me and my situation — I have a complete Citrix environment with NetScaler — all services were installed in one day. The most time it takes to install an additional application is one or maybe two days. I may outsource some tasks at times, but nothing about it is really complex. I know using Citrix with Microsoft is fairly complex and you have to use it in the cloud and have things done for you at times. But I don't believe that alone constitutes complexity.  

I do not use other resources for implementation. I do it all myself as I am a partner and reseller.  

The advice I would give to those who want to start using this solution is to beware of Citrix and Microsoft. They are both considered sort of the bad guys in the computing world. They want to push you to the cloud and maybe you don't really need the cloud for your solution. You don't have to listen to them.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this product as an eight.  

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops can be deployed on-premise and in the cloud.

We use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for virtual machines at work for virtual demos for our customers.

The most valuable feature of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is the security and it is easy to work with.

I have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for approximately 10 years ago.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops are stable.

The scalability of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is good because you can integrate it with other solutions.

I have used the support for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops are not easy to set up. However, I have the experience and I can do it easily. It could be easier to set up.

The price of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is approximately $300 for the new version called Dash and the license is approximately $900 annually.

My advice to others is Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops are good and secure, and they can use their infrastructure from anywhere and anytime.

I rate Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops a ten out of ten.

We use this solution to solve issues related to bandwidth when Oracle forms are used remotely. Also, upgrading or adding any other user application is extremely easy. Oracle E-business Suite is a resource intensive application and database system, which is customized in order to fulfill the government's needs.

This solution has improved user productivity all over Egypt serving the Government financial system. The bandwidth used by the applications was dramatically reduced from 60K to 8K per user. This reduction in bandwidth had reduced the connection cost for the whole project.

The most valuable feature is that users can work remotely from any location. The shadow feature is extraordinary and helps a lot when supporting remote users. The business support team uses this feature to connect to the user session when they are working and can provide instruction on performing complicated tasks.

Direct connection of USB devices on the terminals to be used by streamed applications is very important for printing and the usage of token authentication, but the current version does not support this one hundred percent. It is necessary to support this transparently so that any USB device can be used.

This solution is extremely stable.

Scalability is easy and straightforward.

I did not use another solution prior to this one.

The setup is straightforward, although trimming the application streaming is crucial to make the best use of bandwidth.

We used a vendor team and they were excellent.

I suggest using the concurrent user licensing scheme.

Remote Terminal was evaluated in addition to this solution.

My advice is to use Citrix XenApp on Windows VMs, based on VMware Hypervisor.