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Cicero Quickly Integrates Applications in Citrix XenApp and Microsoft App-V Virtual Environments
March 18, 2011
Cicero can leverage new virtualization clients from Citrix and Microsoft to integrate virtual applications running at the desktop with other client applications running locally and web-based applications running in a local browser without change to those applications or the presentation server.
Virtual applications have always presented something of a challenge when it comes to integrating them with applications that run locally or in the Cloud.
When all the applications run on the presentation server, integration is performed within the context of the virtual machine where you have full access to the application controls and events.
However, it’s more typical that only a subset of the applications is executed on the presentation server, while others continue to run elsewhere. In this situation you have the choice to integrate the virtual applications using what is little more than screen-scraping technology or use some form of service provider on the presentation server to provide data objects and events to the integration framework. Cicero has and continues to use both of these techniques to good effect but it is preferable to have full object-level integration managed in one place.
With Citrix XenApp Streaming Clientor Microsoft App-Vand Cicero that object-level integration of virtual with local and cloud-based applications is now possible at the desktop. These virtualization technologies allow an architecture where business applications are managed centrally but executed locally and Cicero provides the framework within which those applications can share data with other application types in a robust and reliable manner without change to the applications themselves.
The decision to virtualize an application is often driven by a need to reduce cost at the desktop — both in terms of the hardware required at the desktop and the burden of maintenance — but that isn't always consistent with the need of the business or the customer and one size should not and does not fit all. By integrating with the applications at the desktop, regardless of the delivery platform, Cicero is able to support a variety of virtual solution architectures making it possible to leverage the different solution architectures that make the most sense.
Neil Crane
Director of Product Strategy
Cicero Inc.