webOS devices to be enterprise-ready at launch with Citrix 31
One of the questions we asked HP during our brief one-on-one session was about their take on the Enterprise market. In the midst of having to be fairly guarded with details on a lot of different fronts, the folks at HP pulled no punches when it came to talk about Enterprise. It was clear from our brief discussion that they were extremely serious about this front. When considering how the TouchPad will distinguish itself from the other big name tablets entering the space, HP spoke clearly about the strong demand for alternatives to the established players. They also didn’t mince words about their cohesive ecosystem, device interconnectivity and powerful enterprise distribution channels as major draw to enterprise customers; One which they intend to leverage to the fullest extent.
Not hours after the introduction, The Citrix Blog wrote about enterprise readiness for the Pre3 and TouchPad thorough their Citrix Reciever app. The app, which they describe as "a lightweight software client that will “turn any webOS device into a powerful business tool by providing secure Enterprise access..." is planned to be ready "on Day 1," for HP's new devices.
They go on to report enthusiastically that Citrix Receiver will “make webOS devices enterprise-ready by securely delivering access to the existing ecosystem of Windows based apps: Citrix Receiver will instantly enable new webOS devices for the enterprise!” and then note that Citrix is "enabling the 'Bring Your Own Device' revolution" by supporting all the major platforms.
Given the timing of their lengthy blog post just hours after the announcement began to unfold, this post looks to be more than just an "oh yeah, webOS too" footnote. Rather, it seems highly likely that HP has been making strides behind the scenes to make sure their vertically integrated ecosystem gets some developer love. Add that to a full version of QuickOffice, Touch To Share, and smart Touchstones, and all of us enterprise users out there suddenly have a lot to be really excited about.
Source: The Citrix Blog
31 Comments
Support for Windows Remote Apps too? Or just citrix presentation server (does anyone still use that?)
I've been missing a decent RDP client, I'd love to see one, though I know HP has been in bed with citrix for awhile, VM Virtual Desktops are sweet and Microsoft remote apps (okay, and citrix presentation and remote app servers) make a "any device" environment highly likely in the near future. I just hope they support both environments.
RDP client. That's what I am waiting for as well. We have a terminal server going here, and with VPN Support built into WebOS 2.x and higher, I would be ready to go. I won't buy Xen just for the Pad, and our company restricts VNC.
Can we haz RDP pwease?
just get logmein.com installed on your machine if your company doesn't restrict it. It'll go thru every firewall just fine and guess what the pre browser renders just fine the java applet version of their app. It's funky to zoom in and out but on the small screen but saved me few times on the go. On the pad it shouldn't be an issue.
Btw they have iapp for that:)
yah... it's not to remote my PC, it's for supporting servers.
also, I support a ton of Terminal servers, so support for RDP and RDP remote apps through an RDP client would be killer.
That sounds serious. Smart touchstones? Did I miss that?
A touchstone charger (super feature that's underplayed and makes it easy to keep the phone going all day, even with heavy battery use) that would also sync via Bluetooth with desktop/laptop/tablet would be powerful.
I do a lot of cloud syncing. But memo sync is missing in the cloud and provides a powerful data storage system on a business computer.
This might sound like a retro Palm desktop app with a cradle, but, frankly, that was a good system that lots of business people used. Change it for a touchstone and a phone and you have something a lot of business people would use. And nothing else - not blackberry, not apple, not Google - does it.
Two notes: wired touchstone sync would work fine for desktops, though not laptops. Wireless DOES NOT WORK IF YOU ARE ON AN OFFICE DESKTOP THAT IS HARD WIRED. People just aren't thinking office environments.
Citrix is still used by hospital systems.
Hmm maybe Epocrates will rethink their pulling out of WebOS. With citrix on my phone/tablet I will be able to use this to log into EPIC (the electronic medical record software my hospital system uses). Either that or I guess I'll just have to pick up a copy of one of the non-free alternative apps.
The two hospitals I'm in both use the Citrix client (using two different EHRs that don't talk to one another of course). Even with Citrix access though, the scalability of the EHR can have problems (at least from what I've see on an iPhone). The TouchPad should be plenty big though.
Citrix and VPN were the two missing enterprise type elements that I wanted. Will be interesting to see if Epocrates reacts.
Has anyone heard or seen anything from Quickoffice regarding developing for webOS, after the Wednesday announcement of no webOS updates to legacy devices? I fear that may look like a negative to Quickoffice and that they could rethink their commitment to webOS. And, does this mean that there is no office suite editing for all legacy devices...in other words, will Quickoffice develop their software to ONLY be compatible for devices running webOS 2.0 or higher?
How about VPN support and WiFi network proxy support? There is NO WAY the new devices can be considered enterprise ready without those!
I am 99% sure they mentioned VPN support in the presentation because I texted it to others.
What about network proxy support? Lots of big businesses, including the one I work for, direct all Internet access through a proxy. webOS must have that support!
VPN is built into 2.0 - Cisco VPN with SSL and IPSEC.
MUCH more important is how can the enterprise MANAGE these devices. That question and Apple's choice to ignore it until iOS4 seriously impacted corporate deployment until just recently.
Given how HP's device deployment schedule and lack of announced carrier tie-ups will likely limit consumer appeal for their devices beyond the webOS-faithful, they can't make the same mistake Apple did when trying to pitch devices as enterprise-ready.
It's a LOT more than distribution channels and Citrix access...
Fair Point. But also fair is that HP gets all of that. You couldn't possibly think they wouldn't be heading that direction, and we should look at this as a sizable foundation to start with for enterprise deployments of WebOS.
Citrix is a huge win here, folks, and it clearly shows a commitment to the long term view of the platform as an enterprise option.
I don't expect that HP will be getting huge enterprise sales wins out of the gate, but this will STRONGLY make them a consideration in the MANY evaluation efforts going on right now.
But we need to recognize that HP has a big bat of "enterprise experience" to swing here. People in the enterprise respect what HP brings as an organization at the enterprise lelevel.
This is good news.
It would be awesome if they make a Citrix Xen Center App. If they have this, I don't see why sysadmins would not want the touchpad.
My dad is a doctor and uses Citrix to connect to Epic from his laptop. It works really great and he loves to be able to do lots of work from home instead of staying late at the clinic. He may consider the TouchPad as a good tool for him.
Unfortunately this doesn't help my clients that work on Linux and Solaris machines for their day to day work. Citrix has no solution for them and yes, I'm talking about some Fortune 500 class tech companies.
HP will probably acquire Citrix
I still haven't seen any talk about device encryption for EAS. Email is a center of every company, and every medical company will require device encryption, as that's a HIPAA mandate. Before they can bring their mobile devices into the corporate market, they will need to sort this out. Currently, the iPhone is fully supported in that are, Android with a certain application is supported and Windows Mobile 6.5. WebOS is curiously missing, as is WP7. Blackberry has it's own deal, separate from this.
I agree that email is high priority. What I also see missing for it to be enterprise ready is Lotus Notes and lotus Sametime support.
That's an easy fix, ask your IT department to join the rest of the world in this century and get exchange, chances are everything for Notes is running ontop of AD already. How that product hasn't died yet is just a shock.
HIPAA only suggests (highly recommends) encryption. the last time I read completely through it (2007) it was still just a bunch of "don't be stupid" suggestions for screen savers and backups.
Unless that has changed, WPA2 should still suffice for most wireless environments as long as all application access is also password protected, Exchange 2007 and 2010 can force access over ssl for email and all med apps that use a web front end are ssl, solving your encryption issues.
The HITECH act of HIPAA is what demands endpoint encryption. Any type of storage that could potentially store patient information must be encrypted. More can be read here:
http://www.capturebilling.com/blog/bid/37105/HIPAA-Privacy-and-Security-...
The Citrix receiver is a HUGE win and makes these products 100% viable for me but the ability to encrypt the device is what would also make it viable for my company.
This news release seems to imply it's supported:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110209xb.html
Under the bullet points:
"Business-class email – Pre3 offers business-class email and encrypted data storage to protect critical information and supports industry-standard VPN to connect to corporate networks."
pardon a possibly dumb question, but does this allow me to do remote desktop connection to get into my electronic medical record from my upcoming touchpad?
No, this only allows you to connect to Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop farms.
With a "focus on enterprise" I really can't imagine their not being an RDP client and SOON.
@bjs188 - it all depends on the setup of your organization and EMR.
I for one, am very glad to see this. I'm an IT Admin at a hospital that uses Citrix and I can't wait to stop carrying my laptop everywhere I go!
I'm curious why there seems to be no speculation about HP transitioning their thin clients to WebOS. It would be a natural successor to their ThinPro platform, fulfills the promise of WebOS in desktop and notebook form factors (they have mobile thin clients as well) and it's a burgeoning market that HP currently dominates.
ggendel: Linux and Solaris? Just give me a VPN and a command line and I'm good. And I've already got the command line on my Pre "minus" :)
@ggendel &co. looking for Linux Solaris RDP or command line capability. Just put a (Windows) Citrix gateway on your network loaded with Kea!X X-Windows, RDP/ICA/Putty/TACACS or app or anything else you need and you can access anything you like through a single Citrix connection. We have an estate of 100s of mixed OS servers and we can run remote desktop sessions on any of them even via a dialup link. it works like a dream, despite having 2 or more links in the chain. With the compression, low latency and encryption built into Citrix it's exactly what it was designed to do. And with just one Citrix link to the remote user there's only one entry point and security wrap for the network admins to worry about.
This is huge! Here is hoping HP does acquire Citrix, to make sure everything works well together. :>