Likelihood to Recommend Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops is best in class for offering a great user experience in VDI, server-based sessions, or published apps. Using additional GPU allows uses like rich video, 3D apps, and great modern uses (MS Teams, Office 365, Zoom, etc.). Citrix products are very well integrated (Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops used with Citrix ADC is the best way to secure access and monitor everything).
Read full review VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:
Testing windows updates on a system Testing a new software or a new software version Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.
Read full review Pros Enables remote access anywhere, to any device which eliminates managing the endpoints how traditional VPN would require. Integrates well with modern applications to offer optimized user experiences similar to native applications which increases user acceptance. Extremely flexible in how policies are applied to different use cases to ensure the appropriate security mitigations are in place with minimal effort. Easy to maintain and expand environments to fit business needs. Read full review VMware Player is easy to use. VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems. Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM. Read full review Cons A single console to manage the environment. The configuration is a bit complicated and we have hired Citrix administrators. But it's a good solution. User profiles need improvement. They could use more stability and more functionality as well as user profile redirection. Read full review Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Because it has been a mainstay of our business for many years.
Read full review I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.
Read full review Usability Getting the environment setup took me three months of off and on work, with 3 complete rebuilds of the environment. Utilizing the WebUI to access the environment had presented so many random issues that we had to require end users to use the Citrix Reciever App. As it was the only stable solution. Aside from that, it hasn't required much admin intervention since the stand-up was completed.
Read full review Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).
Read full review Reliability and Availability Xendesktop did a great job with HA of all the components.
Read full review Performance The performance of XenDesktop is the best in the industry because of the fine-tuned protocol and years of updating. Overall, I don't think there is a better performer on the market. The question is if the added complexity of running XenDesktop is really worth the performance gain. While the latest version of XenDesktop is the easiest to deploy so far, it is still more challenging than the competitors.
Read full review Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.
Read full review Support Rating The support is great when you get an engineer that knows what they are doing but getting that individual sometimes takes a while. Overall, they are professional and polite and competent in their knowledge. Sometimes the cases are open for an extended period of time which becomes very frustrating when dealing with critical issues.
Read full review VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.
Read full review In-Person Training I was self trained
Read full review Online Training Easy to understand and learn at my own pace
Read full review Implementation Rating Take it slow and read the directions each step of the way. If you are not familiar with Citrix products, use a reseller or other experienced engineer to assist you in the setup of your environment
Read full review Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.
Read full review Alternatives Considered I never had the chance to test other products like these since whenever I read and searched online during the first phase it was only popping up Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.... so we got in touch with the sales department and the rest is history. After the technical consultation, it was more obvious that the implementation would have been very easy and the security layers are very well for my company.
Read full review Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.
Read full review Scalability Easily scalable
Read full review Return on Investment XenApp has allowed us to continue support of legacy applications and all access of those applications to users across the globe with any device. XenApp can also manage software licenses by restricting number of users, number of concurrent sessions, or combination of both to required specification. While initial investment in XenApp can be costly, continuing support and upgrade are very cost effective and product stability is excellent. While there are competing products from Microsoft and VMware, when it comes to remote application access, XenApp is the best of breed. Read full review A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use. Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support. Read full review ScreenShots