Last year Citrix changed their products names again, according to marketing to ‘simplify the portfolio naming so that it’s easy to understand, buy, and use’. We were just used to the XenApp name, how long will the new name last before another new marketing name peeks around the corner?
It all started when the WinFrame product name was launched back in 1995. Actually, before that, the names were 'Multi-User' and 'Multi-Win', but that is another story. The WinFrame name lasted for a good 3 years. After that, it was rebranded to Citrix MetaFrame. This name was used until 2004, with a slight name change to 'MetaFrame XP' the last two years.
In 2004 the name was changed to 'Presentation Server'. Citrix used this name for almost five years. In those years the product became more and more popular and people started to get used the the name. A big shock went to the community when Citrix decided to drastically rename from 'Citrix Presentation Server' to 'Citrix XenApp' in 2007. In that year Citrix acquired the XenSource foundation from the Xen hypervisor and renamed almost all products to Xen something.
Almost 10 years later, late 2018, Citrix changes the XenApp name to 'Citrix Virtual Apps'. Citrix tried to fool us a couple of times with 'XenApp and XenDesktop' or 'XenDesktop and XenApp' product names, but for now it will be Citrix Virtual Apps....
Hopefully, this name will stay long enough until we are used to it. So I don’t have to write another blog about it ;).
New names
Citrix XenApp is renamed to Citrix Virtual Apps
Citrix XenDesktop is renamed to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
Citrix XenServer will be renamed to Citrix Hypervisor
Citrix Sharefile is renamed to Citrix Content Collaboration
Citrix XenMobile is renamed to Citrix Endpoint Management
Version format
The version format is also changed. Previously the format was a standard major - minor - build format, now it is is more in line with the Microsoft version format YYMM - minor - build number. An example is Citrix Virtual Apps 1811, where 18 is the year (2018) and 11 is the month (november).
Editions
The names of the various editions are changed, too. For Citrix Virtual Apps, the new names are Standard (Advanced) , Advanced (Enterprise) and Premium (Platinum). For Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, the new names are Standard (VDI), Advanced (Enterprise) and Premium (Platinum).
Releases
Citrix has updated their release strategy: Citrix Cloud Services will have a new release every 2- 4 weeks. Once every quarter these enhancements are bundled into a Current Release for the on-premises release. Once every 2-3 years the Current Releases are bundled into a Long Term Service Release.