WFH Gets Even Better with Citrix Workspace + IGEL OS

Our high-performance partnership delivers enterprise-ready communication and collaboration for the remote worker.

If remote workers could have one holiday gift from their employers it would be a workspace that supports collaboration apps (think Teams), provides airtight security commensurate with corporate networks, and ensures connectivity that is as consistent at 10 a.m. as it is at 3 a.m.!

All remote workers’ desires for a more secure, trouble-free workspace can be fulfilled. It takes a combination of a next-gen edge OS (IGEL) and a leader in delivering apps over a virtual environment, to the cloud (Citrix). Right now, we’re focusing on helping customers leverage IGEL OS with Citrix Workspace to provide the device flexibility, conferencing capability and security remote workers need to be more autonomous, yet highly productive while confidently knowing their work remains safeguarded and protected.

One of the most dramatic changes has been the explosion of web conferencing usage. The web conferencing market is expected to reach a value of $78,547.9 million by 2030, from $2,109.3 million in 2019, and is projected to progress at a 39.3% CAGR during the forecast period (2020-2030). A distributed workforce cannot afford wonky connectivity, poor graphical quality or sporadic bandwidth fluctuations.  The Citrix Workspace App, powered by IGEL OS 11.04, is optimized for unified communications such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom as a Workspace App client. With Citrix and IGEL remote workers can have a crystal-clear voice, video and webcam experience.

Security concerns remain an issue for all employees, but the remote working phenomenon has brought endpoint device security to a new level of fear. Not just the random BYOD device used occasionally while traveling, the new generation of remote workers rightfully feel their ‘home’ devices can be put into play. Deploying IGEL’s read-only, modular Linux-based OS on each endpoint provides an end-to-end “chain of trust” security from device boot to cloud workspace execution. Regardless of device, IGEL’s central management console can monitor every desktop in real-time and automatically push security updates.

Speaking of endpoints, remote workers are getting used to the feeling of being more independent of IT, thanks to advanced platforms like Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS. They will typically use more than one device in any work week. IGEL OS supports this flexibility since it is hardware and device agnostic, enabling customers to leverage existing hardware while migrating and transitioning workloads to the cloud quickly. Also, innovations like the IGEL UD Pocket enable a remote worker to securely boot up their user profile on any hardware, ensuring no threat to the network.

A Partnership Rich in Innovation and Vision

IGEL’s ongoing collaborative partnership with Citrix is, without question, a key factor in IGEL’s continuing success in serving the evolving workspace market. Notably, Citrix is a linchpin and an inaugural member in our IGEL Ready alliance program. We are always engaging in the field to ensure our mutual customers’ success and execution of an efficient deployment of Citrix applications and workspaces with IGEL OS. Responding to market changes like exponential growth in web collaboration and conferencing is another aspect of our partnership. Our engineering and product teams are closely collaborating to deliver Day 0 support for new releases, functionality and new features in Citrix Workspace App.  To date we have achieved Day 2 support for the most recent version of Teams – a particularly important benefit  for WFH collaboration to our mutual customers and their support teams.

Want to learn more? Check out this joint Citrix-IGEL infographic which shows how you can connect better and do more, faster, with Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS:

With 2021 approaching, IGEL continues to focus on new joint product opportunities and specific feature enhancements to collaborate on with Citrix. Perhaps we should use Teams? Stay tuned for more exciting news to come!

Image licensed from Adobe Stock.