Citrix to Dazzle with apps provisioning

Citrix is preparing to ship its Dazzle tool for self-service application deployment, along with new versions of its Receiver universal client to extend access to virtual desktops and applications.

Due for availability in December, Citrix Dazzle enables end-users to provision the applications they need for themselves from a portal stocked by the IT department.

Described by Citrix as the first "self-service storefront for enterprise applications", the system is intended to make access to virtual desktops and applications as easy as turning on a TV, the company said.

"We wanted to make it as simple as possible for people to choose the applications they need access to," said Patrick Irwin, senior product marketing manager at Citrix.

"Often, you find that the IT department doesn't always give you all the applications you need for your job, so the idea is to change the process around and let IT advertise the apps that are available, so that workers can choose them from a list as easily as downloading from iTunes."

As well as benefiting users, this deployment method does away with the need for the IT department to deploy and maintain applications the traditional way, according to Citrix. Once a user selects an application, it is made available on their desktop.

The initial release of Dazzle targets Windows and Mac clients.

For Dazzle to work, each user also requires Citrix Receiver, the company's universal client for remotely accessing desktops and applications, on their endpoint device.

Receiver is already available for Windows and Apple's iPhone, and Citrix is widening support, with clients for other platforms due in December.

While Windows PCs will get an updated 1.2 release and the iPhone version (released in the summer) is now up to 2.0, both Mac and BlackBerry users now have a Receiver 1.0 client available, along with a technical preview of a Receiver client for Android-based handsets.

Citrix Dazzle and Citrix Receiver are free to Citrix customers with XenDesktop or XenApp, the company said.