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

Citrix is used by many organizations to make it possible to streamline the way different developers work together from different locations. It is able to do this using a low bandwidth. Essentially it is used for remote application delivery. 

Citrix's functionality depends on you having access to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft offers a broad range of features and solutions. Overall, it may make sense for some users to move all their services to Microsoft services. The main challenge is that you need to have a Microsoft Azure subscription. 

This solution could be improved by adding features for authentication. 

I have been using this solution for 10 years. 

This is a stable solution, however, this stability can be impacted by networking changes. Citrix has developed its own in-house monitoring tool that assists in this regard. Security wise, they have lots of features that you can use for two factor authentication along with your password or biometrics.

This is a scalable solution. Citrix is able to increase its capacity and functionalities based on demand for both on-prem or cloud-based scenarios. 

The customer support team is responsive when we contact them. Citrix runs on top of Windows so it is important to first figure out whether the challenge you have is Windows or Citrix related. There is an option to pay for support from Citrix and this is based on whether you are a gold or premium customer. They have a dedicated technical team and technical relationship manager who will engage with your environment and provide suggestion. They also offer professional services for deployment and configurations.

The initial setup was straightforward but this may differ based on specific scenarios. This solution needs to be integrated with directory infrastructure and in accordance with basic requirements. The setup is simpler for smaller environment and more complex for larger environments that need integration with other cloud infrastructure. 

You have to install a cloud connector for on-prem environments that use separate Windows servers. In future, Citrix are planning to bypass that cloud connection. 

They offer licensing per user.  From time to time, they give discounts. Because it's a hybrid model, you can deploy some portion of it on cloud and some portion your on-prem. 

This is an expensive solution but the cost can be brought down by discount bargaining based on the volume of licenses you are purchasing. 

I would advise others to evaluate whether to use the Citrix VDI based on all the different applications you have in your environment. You should specifically consider those applications which are cloud based and those which are on-premise as well as where your data is kept. This will determine the complexity of adding Citrix. 

You need consider what infrastructure is required for an in-house solution and how will your team manage and monitor updates. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. 

If you have a desktop, laptop, or device that can be distributed to end users, to any kind of inconsistency in the institution, we deploy the solution so that anybody can get whatever resource is required. It helps ensure access. It makes it easy for us to give storage, memory, RAM, or processor resources without anything affecting their day-to-day activity. It makes it simple and easy for our institution to provide the kind of activity to the users.

The product is ideal for sharing an application for different resources. For instance, let's say we have a Microsoft Office product and want to share the Microsoft Office product with everyone simultaneously. That can easily be done. 

With this product, everyone can have a similar kind of desktop environment. So it's a virtual environment, the desktop environment. They can do whatever they need in that environment, and different kinds of users can access different kinds of applications. 

The product is scalable. 

If there are connectivity issues, there are stability issues. 

I've been using the solution for one year.

The solution is stable and reliable. However, it depends on the network infrastructure. If we have a stable network infrastructure, then it's stable. That said, if the infrastructure is not stable, I don't recommend this product. If there is an interruption, it might not actually be available to the user, which could cause issues.

The solution is scalable. 

Right now, we have 1,100 virtual workspaces, and we are planning to add 1,500 more. 

We do not use a different type of service right now. 

In terms of handling the setup process, we need planning since it is a bit complex. We need to know the infrastructure itself. The hardware resources can also be a bit expensive, and the licensing might also depend on the number of users that the organization has. Therefore, it is a bit expensive, the initial deployment. The cost of RAM after the deployment is much less.

It needs a proper professional to deploy everything. It also requires the engagement of Citrix. Three to six months is enough to deploy it as the hardware might first actually need to be available. Still, once you have that resource, deploying Citrix also might take additional time.

While internally, it can be managed by an in-house staff, the deployment cannot. It requires proper capacity building to do even the deployment. It is a little bit challenging, so I recommend the setup be done by the consultant. 

The initial setup requires a specific supplier or consultant to handle everything. It can't be done in-house.

In January 2020 they changed the licensing scheme and they're also changing the on-prem licensing scheme to be subscription-based as well. It can be tricky. I don't know why they did that. Maybe it's the marketing strategy. I don't know. The subscription is for three years or five years. If you procure three years subscription, you can use the license, after three years, they'll block it, which can be a challenge if you aren't paying attention to when licensing renewals are due. 

We last updated about a year ago. We are on the 2021 version.

I recommend the solution, however, it depends on the organization's use case. Let's say if that organization needs to share the resource equally through the users or staff they have, then I recommend it. 

I'd rate it nine out of ten.

The primary use case is to allow our employees to work from home.

We are using the solution with some of our light users. There is less maintenance cost for the hardware.

The remote desktop feature is valuable because it allows employees to work from home.

USB devices are a common issue. I am not sure if this is a Citrix issue or an operating system issue because we are using Linux.

I have been using the solution for one year.

At this point, the solution has shown to be stable.

The solution is scalable.

I had to use customer service once or twice and they solve my issues immediately.

The initial setup is complex.

The implementation was done in-house. 

We recouped 60 to 70 percent of the hardware costs.

I rate the solution seven out of ten.

Although the initial setup is complex, deployment is easy. We already have the images used for deployments of the virtual machines through Citrix Studio. The thin client already has an operating system that connects directly to the Citrix server. All we have to do is assign the virtual machines and deploy them.

We currently have 97 users for the solution and are looking to increase that to 300. Two engineers are required to manage the solution.

I recommend you test everything first before implementing this solution. We are facing issues with Microsoft Teams, and the presentations which have no option to share with Bijo and Ojo. You should also test the hardware, especially the USB devices.

We have two primary use cases of this solution. One, the final users use their main interface to log in to the system. The Citrix team publish all the applications they are accessing with their laptops. We have an end terminal that is a small PC with just access to Citrix, so they don't have a real PC.

The other use case is my personal use case. I use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops to access the network to jump into the infra. I am using it to access the network and to go through the infrastructure level for monitoring. I do not use the business application as I am from IT, we just support the IT infrastructure.

Centralization and security are the most valuable features of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. You have a controlled environment that doesn't allow your employees to install software on the machines and connect to the network. It is more secure than personal laptops everywhere.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is easy to manage. Our organization has a hybrid environment. We have a large percentage of our users that have their own laptops, which requires a lot of effort to manually maintain support, update and patch. With Citrix, we have three or four people that work on the infrastructure to support over 2,000 users.

The solution works as it is designed to work. However, when you are at the office you do need to log in and load your profile, which takes time. But that is the way it is designed.

I have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for four years.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is very stable. It is our responsibility to have it up and running with good performance. The environment is very stable. Any impact on Citrix is immediately reported to the users. We are always one step ahead in checking performance and getting alerts.

Any issues we have are small and resolved quickly by our team. 

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a complex solution. It requires many licenses in a big environment. Anyone considering the solution needs to assess and analyze the cost benefit. As a VDI solution, I do believe it is the best one out there.

I would rate Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop an eight out of 10.

The Citrix Workspace is a little easier compared to Citrix Receiver. We used to use Citrix Receiver and then switched to Citrix Workspace. Previously, we had to install five browser components and a couple more things to launch these applications.

Six to seven months after we started using this solution, we had an issue when we were using the Citrix server. We needed to install the Citrix Runtime in the server where the application was hosted. When we installed the Runtime, we needed to restart the production server. So, whenever our EMR application was going live, we had to plan to upgrade all our other surrounding tools and applications, so we could complete one restart and achieve everything at once.

The engineering team installed certain things to fix the issue, and now it is resolved. There are so many links within the Citrix application, so when we tried to launch it, we initially used IE. Initially, we never had an issue, but when we made Chrome an enterprise browser, then we were facing some slowness. But later, we realized that it was not a Citrix issue, it was some additional components of the browser that we needed to install so that it would be rightly redirected to the EFC.

We have been using this solution for ten years from a configuration perspective and almost three years from an automation perspective. We are using the latest version.

We are planning our next upgrade around mid-September. The solution is deployed on-premises.

It is a stable solution.

We have more than 500 people using this solution.

We have not used the technical support from Citrix. However, we reach out to our technical team for any issues.

I rate the pricing a five out of five because it is a good price.

I rate this solution a nine out of ten. We have been using this solution for a long time and are comfortable using Citrix.

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. 

I need it to be able to access internal resources and work from a secure environment, wherever I am based. Frankly, security is my only concern.

I use the on-premises desktop virtualization and Remote PC Access. 

I am using it for personal use.

The only reason why I use it is I may need to access my files from anywhere that I am and where I cannot install a VPN to my place or anything else. I have managed to secure it enough to know that my files will always be accessible no matter where I am. I wouldn't use it otherwise.

I perform security tests with external providers.

The only thing that is really important for me is being able to connect from wherever I am. It is important for me because sometimes I am in places where there are not enough safe conditions to be able to work safely, in terms of security and confidentiality of my data. Being able to access internal resources from a secure platform allows me to work without fearing that my data has been stolen.

The NetScaler Gateway is very customizable. However, it is also a mess in a sense that you can't find what you want or where it's supposed to be. You are supposed to navigate dozens of manuals to find the right one. It is not well-organized. Then, it becomes messy when we talk about configuration.

Six years now.

I would rate the user experience when using the solution’s technology remotely as an eight out of 10, because it is normally quick and stable enough. The way it works, it may not be perfect, which is why I don't think it gets a nine out of 10, but it is stable enough to allow me to work. That is what counts in the end.

Since I use one machine, I don't need to worry about scalability, high availability, etc. I just have it up when I need it.

When I needed support for a couple of things, three people intervened. Each time, three people gave me a different answer. In the end, they did not manage to give the right answer. At a certain point, they stopped replying. That is no more than a one out of 10. If I could give a zero, I would give a zero.

Negative

I am using both Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and VMware Horizon, so I am not really switching to Citrix. 

I prefer Citrix because it is faster and the interface is cleaner. The text is crispier. It looks like a pumped up version of VMware Horizon desktops.

The VDIs are very easy to set up. 

The NetScaler Gateway is very complex to set up, if you want to get to the right level of security. If you just want to set it up and make it run, then it is easy and takes 30 seconds, but it doesn't do anything. It is crap. If you want to really set it up, it is very complex.

The primary steps are pretty much forced. You install the Director and Studio, then you install the deploy machine, which makes it run. I'm not an enterprise, so I don't need to worry about all the preplanning. I just deploy machines and provide some cyberware. I just put it on the machine and let it run. In this case, that is very good. It allows you to do this with no real proper pre-thinking about how many machines you need to deploy, etc. 

To set it up as I wanted, it took me one month. However, I don't do that as a job. I just did it as a hobby or for personal reasons, which are not my job. Then, I worked on it when I had the time, not all day. 

Where Citrix really needs to improve is in their support and in the way that they manage their licenses. Everything else comes second because if I'm not in a position where I can get proper support or manage my own licenses in an easy way, then it is pointless. Today, I am at a point where I may not be able to use Citrix anymore because they want to take away some of the licenses that I bought, pretending they are not valid anymore. That is frankly unacceptable. If they don't solve this, everything comes second because I cannot use my product.

On a scale from zero to 10, I would rate pricing a zero. They are trying to take away licenses that I bought because they say they are not valid anymore, even if they are stated as permanent. On the site, they are characterized as permanent. They insist this is an evaluation version that I'm not allowed to use as permanent, which means I will probably be in a position where I can't work anymore. So, their licensing system is bad. The fact that I cannot relocate my licenses alone, but I have to go through and use their support center makes it even worse.

I do not know other vendors aside from VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft Hyper-V, which I am using as well.

• VMware is easy to set up as a pro and more cluttered as a con. 
• Citrix, as a pro, is very quick. As a con, their support in the licensing system is so bad that I may leave it very quickly. 
• Hyper-V is well-integrated as a pro. I just started working on Hyper-V so I cannot give any real con yet because I'm not yet at that stage. I'm still figuring out how it works. I have virtual machines running on Hyper-V, but it is really too early to comment on this solution.

Go for VMware. Seriously, they are the same thing. 

I would rate the solution as a two (out of 10). I cannot give an eight or nine (out of 10) to a solution that works well if the provider does not put me in a position where I can use it.

Make sure that you have data sources in-house to manage every problem because support may be useless. Make sure that you discuss well in advance and get written proof of what you are buying from Citrix, because there lies a risk not being able to work on your solution anymore from one day to another.

We are using Citrix Workspace for the people who are roaming employees, those who rarely come to the office and access applications and data from outside the office.

Citrix Workspace has benefited organizations from the security extension after implementing it.

The most valuable feature of Citrix Workspace is its security.

The Citrix Workspace interface could improve. Additionally, if they are able to provide a mobile application

I have been using Citrix Workspace for over six years.

Citrix Workspace is quite a stable solution provided it is implemented as part of best practices provided by Citrix Workspace. If any of the organizations are not following the best practices, they are bound to have, challenges with regard to stability. 

Citrix Workspace can be scalable. However, the scalability of the solution depends on how it has been implemented. If the implementation is done, keeping scalability in mind, it would be scalable. If scalability has not been considered at the time of implementing the solution, then any organization is going to find it difficult to scale.

We have approximately 100 users using Citrix Workspace in my organization.

My experience with the support from Citrix Workspace mix and match experience. Earlier, it used to be a good experience, but over a period of time, there have been a lot of changes within Citrix.

I rate the support from  Citrix Workspace a four out of five.

The initial setup of Citrix Workspace is a bit of a complex process, which should be made easier in the future. If somebody's looking to extend the reach of this solution, then the implementation of this has to be super easy. It should be very easy that would make somebody wants to use Citrix Workspace on a regular basis for their personal use. Security is something that is and is going to be a big concern for everybody down the line.

The length of time it takes to implement Citrix Workspace depends on how complex the environment is. If it is a project with very minimum applications to be published through the Citrix Workspace, then it can take approximately 15 days to one month to complete. 

If it is a complex environment where there are multiple applications posted on different platforms with multiple application stacks, that may take up to three months time or even more than that in some cases.

The implementation was done in-house. 

Citrix Workspace doesn't acquire any specific maintenance, but if we want to reduce the maintenance overhead from the organization's point of view, to do that, we can try to make it easy for end-user to use it, such as not raising tickets to IT teams to sort out. They should be able to resolve their issue. In most of the cases, I have seen that the issues are related to end-user only.

The price of the solution could be less expensive. There are different versions to their solution and the price keeps increasing.

If someone is trying to enable their employees to work from anywhere without compromising security, I would recommend a Citrix Workspace.

I rate Citrix Workspace an eight out of ten.

Everything requires improvement, nothing is perfect. Everyone should consider improvement.

Citrix Workspace can be deployed in the cloud and on-premise.

Citrix Workspace can present desktop applications with ease, in an efficient and secure manner. The performance is good, it is a great piece of software.

Citrix Workspace can improve by being more secure, but this would apply to any solution not only Citrix Workspace.

There are times when the Citrix client is updated with a poor release. The update can effectively knock out aspects that were working previously. You can go one step forward, but two steps back. They will go through a period of having some very good software releases and then they will stop completely. It will take a couple more releases to get back everything that was negatively impacted. 

I have used Citrix Workspace within the last 12 months.

The solution is stable.

Citrix Workspace is scalable.

I have not had to contact the support from Citrix Workspace.

The initial setup is straightforward and simple.

The licensing of Citrix Workspace is worth it. However, it is expensive. Citrix is probably more competitive now than VMware, but it is still a costly solution.

I have evaluated VMware.

My advice to others is the initial installation is always straightforward, it's the second phase that you need a lot of good assistance or a lot of assistance to get it working right or working well. If you go into it thinking you can learn as you go, it's not that kind of solution. It is similar to VMware. The whole element about it is that installing the solution is easy and getting things up and running is not a problem, but getting it to work well in the environment requires a lot of expertise and you need to pay the money to get that to work well.

I rate Citrix Workspace a ten out of ten.

One of the things we wanted to achieve was the ability to work from home and have the same environment. We use the application virtualization capabilities, the on-premise desktop virtualization, and the cloud-hosted desktop virtualization.

A lot of people are going to a hybrid working model and they can work in the same environment, whether they're at home or in the office. They're able to work efficiently.

Security is also of critical importance. It provides a very secure environment with several security features that can be implemented. We are an IT infrastructure company, so infrastructure passwords are very critical. It provides us with a tremendous amount of security, which is very valuable.

Citrix also simplifies adherence to industry regulations for data protection and for compliance.

The most valuable feature is the desktop experience so that users don't see much difference between the remote desktop and the local desktop. Their files remain the same, so it's much easier to work from different locations. We use it for laptops and desktops only, but I believe it has the flexibility to be used on any device. If the desktop experience is good, the employees are happier. They are able to do what they want to do.

It also provides virtualization for high-end graphics so that they can be displayed. AutoCAD can be done on Citrix. The graphics are very good.

We also like the security features it provides.

It would help if it were a little simpler. It's a bit complicated and we have hired Citrix administrators. But it's a good solution.

We have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for about two and half months.

We have about 400 people and we have implemented it for about 130 people. We're implementing it for the other employees as well.

We went with Citrix because of its security and the user experience.

Deployment and management are not easy, but because we are an IT company, we are able to do it. We provide a virtual desktop service to our customers, so Citrix fits into our business model. You have to set up all the Citrix components, drivers, and Netscaler. You need to deploy three to four servers for a basic Citrix setup, as well as servers that give the remote desktop to your users.

If you have Citrix experts, deployment should happen in a month's time. But if you don't have experts, it can take more time. Now that we have the expertise in managing Citrix on the cloud, the time it takes to get our customers on board and into the service that we are providing to them with Citrix, depends on them. We can get them on board very quickly because now we know what to do and how to do it.

We haven't embraced thin clients or low-cost device computing yet. We were of two minds about whether to take full laptops or thin clients for access while working from home. We are experimenting with thin clients now, and the experience has been positive, but until now we have used only laptops. We are going to further test thin clients and then we'll be giving them to some of our users.