With the latest release of Citrix XenClient, this will Citrix’s last stop before GA. Here is a overview of the new features and enhancements in this release in XenClient.

Quick overview of the new features of XenClient RC2:

Windows 7 x64

Citrix has added support in XenClient RC2 for Windows 7 64bit.

Improved USB

Another top request was improvements to USB device support. So we spent a lot of time making major improvements to the USB support in XenClient. This includes support for integrated USB devices such as webcams and fingerprint readers. Also we built a new user interface for routing USB devices between VMs and setting up persistent connections between VMs and USB devices. At this point most USB devices should work with the platform. If not let us know. I’ve listed some of the top requests below.

Added support for the following devices:

Apple iPod, iPhone, iPad
Microsoft Windows Phones
Android Phones
Headsets
Fingerprint Readers
Webcams
Smart Card Readers
3G data modems

Bluetooth

Improved USB support comes support for a variety of Bluetooth devices. On most systems in the Citrix HCL the Bluetooth system is actually a USB device that can be assigned to a virtual machine. This allows that virtual machine to talk to your Bluetooth devices.

Usability Enhancements

Simplified VM upload and download process

Improved display of upload/download progress

Along with enhancements to the actual upload and download process we enhanced the display of upload and download progress information and now include this information on the main Receiver for XenClient UI.

Enhanced client authentication experience

In VM alerting system

Citrix has a brand new VM alerting system that will make sure users are aware of critical issues affecting the system such as low disk space, policy actions, or impending lease time expiries.

Mouse pointer trails support

Citrix has extended XenClient to be more accessible to all users and the first area of focus was on the mouse and trackpad. In this release Citrix has added pointer trails support

Automatic slipstream of Intel Graphics drivers

XenClient has some amazing 3D graphics support that lets a virtual machine have direct access to the Intel graphics system for a native graphics experience. In this release Citrix automatically slipstream the Intel graphics drivers into most versions of Windows. So you can flip on the 3D graphics feature and be ready to go without having to download any drivers.

Intel AMT KVM Remote Control

The latest version of Intel vPro technology includes a great new feature called AMT KVM Remote Control. This allows you to remotely view and control a laptop using a VNC viewer. This works on systems shipped this year with Intel vPro on Core i5 and i7 systems.  We did some nice integration work that allows you to remote control not only the XenClient UI but also switch between all of your VMs. It’s useful for remote troubleshooting and training with users. I also find it helpful for doing demos of XenClient over Go2Meeting. You need a second PC running Go2Meeting and then you can connect via a VNC viewer to the XenClient system. This lets everyone on the Go2Meeting see everything on the XenClient system.

Intel Extended Page Tables support

In this release we added support for hardware acceleration of virtual memory operations for increased memory performance. In the past the Xen hypervisor we use in XenClient did an admirable job of page table virtualization but nothing beats hardware assist and this will give us an extra boost in overall performance for memory operations.

In place upgrade for XenClient

Local authentication enhancements

Secure Application Sharing

There are a large number of enhancements to the secure application sharing feature to make it easier to use and provide helpful guidance if a publishing VM is not active.  Below are a list of some of the enhancements that have been made:

Automatic resolution changes when attaching a projector or external monitor

Notifications if the publishing VM is alseep or powered off

Ability to adjust thickness and color of secure shared application windows

Blacklisting of non-essential Windows utilities and built-in apps

Expanded hardware compatibility

This was also a big area of feedback from RC1 and over the next few releases you will see a big increase in the number of systems and peripherals we support. You will even see some new additions by the time we get to XenClient 1.0 GA.

Added support for the following laptops:

HP EliteBook 2540p

Dell Latitude E4310

Dell Latitude E4200

Added support for the following desktop:

HP Compaq 8000 Elite

Added support for the following wireless adapters:

Support for Dell Wireless™ 1501 adapters

Support for Dell Wireless™ 1520 adapters

Support for Intel 5150 Wireless adapters (WiFi Only)

Support for Intel 6250 Wireless adapters (WiFi Only)

Support for Broadcom 4312G Wireless adapters

Support for Broadcom 4322AGN Wireless adapters

 

There are also enhancements to the Syncronizer!

Here is a quick overview:

Dynamic Image Mode (Experimental)

Simplified disk space expansion for image and backup storage

Simplified and Expanded Synchronizer Setup

Scalability enhancements

Usability Enhancements

Revamped web console

It’s also possible to do an in-place upgrade of the Syncronizer.

Also check out XenClient HCL List here