Citrix XenDesktop 7 and XenApp 6.5 Feature Pack 1 will ship in June 2013. Citrix released XenDesktop 7 this May 2013, that combines XenApp and other virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technologies to deliver Windows apps and desktops to mobile devices from a cloud architecture. Citrix VDI administrators will finally get the unified XenDesktop and XenApp management and deployment model in one console. From this release management and deployment of XenDesktop and XenApp are running on the FlexCast Management Architecture (XenApp previously ran on the IMA- Independent Management Architecture).

Citrix has brought down the number of management consoles from about 20 to just two. Citrix Studio for overall management and Citrix Director for monitoring. Director combines performance monitoring, reporting, real-time assessment and troubleshooting, plus network metrics so help desk staff can view users’ usage details, such as latency.

XenDesktop 7 supports Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, and it separates the management layer from the OS, allowing IT to deploy multiple different servers alongside each other. For instance, administrators can now manage Windows 7 and 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 servers in a single farm. That can reduce the number of servers required for XenDesktop

Citrix has given up on Application Streaming now, (Citrix first added support for App-V in XenApp 6 in 2010) because of the changes in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 that would have required a complete rewrite of XenApp to support the app streaming component. But Citrix did not mention that the Application Streaming feature in XenApp will no longer be supported once customers migrate to Windows Server 2012. But XenDesktop 7 will have Citrix’s application migration software AppDNA, to help migrate to App-V

App-V is Microsoft’s application virtualization technology which competes with VMware’s ThinApp and Citrix’s XenApp streaming capabilities

There are many reasons for App-V 5 to be the part of XenApp or RDS environment:

1. Microsoft App-V 5 is free of use on Citrix XenApp / Microsoft RDS
2. App-V 5 Shared Content Store is perfect for non persistent desktops
3. Deploy App-V 5 apps with SCCM 2012, PowerShell, GPO or as stand alone
4. Run multiple versions of the same application on the same server. No need for silos (AIE)
5. Run the same App-V 5 package on various platforms

Citrix disclosed details of XenApp 6.5 Feature Pack 1, which adds graphic processing unit sharing for HDX 3D Pro (GPU is a computer chip that performs primarily for the purpose of rendering images), improved local app integration and automated physical-to-virtual migration through AppDNA.