I should point out that this application had been working well from within the LAN when users were connecting with ICA from a WYSE ThinOS based terminal.  However when connecting from a Windows based workstation using a XenApp or XenDesktop plugin the performance suffered.  My first thought was something was different about the way in which the terminal handled multimedia, SpeedScreen, HDX, etc.

Thinking that I could reproduce this I started down the path of trying older clients until I found one that worked.  Then I could read the release notes and try to figure out exactly what was or wasn’t needed to make this application perform well.  Aside from taking a trip down memory lane by installing some pretty old clients I was never able to make the application perform well from the Windows based workstation.

Now I know that disabling HDX Multimedia Acceleration is just a check box away in XenApp, the same cannot be said for XenDesktop.  The console for XenDesktop 3 does not have anywhere near the number of configuration items as its close relative XenApp 5 does.

Only in the release notes for an updated Virtual Desktop Agent (CTX122963) did I finally find my answer.

On the virtual desktop:


Set the following DWORD to false

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Multimedia\SpeedScreenMMA

On the Desktop Delivery Controller:

1. At a command prompt, cd to C:\Program Files\Citrix\Desktop Delivery Controller.
2. Execute PorticaSetDefaults.exe /o <filename.xml> to create an editable settings XML file.
3. Open the xml file created in the previous step and locate the SpeedScreen Multimedia section.
4. Change the entry for <Enabled>true</Enabled> (default) of the SpeedScreen Multimedia section to <Enabled>false</Enabled>.
5. Save your changes.
6. Reimport the settings using Porticasetdefaults /i. The settings will take effect the next time a Virtual Desktop Controller registers against this Desktop Delivery Controller.
7. Repeat the previous step on every Desktop Delivery Controller that conducts VDA registrations.

ChipPC Virtual Desktop Center
http://www.chippc.com/management/xcalibur-global/index.asp?p=Overview
ChipPC makes a full computer that fits into a wall socket, while that may be an interesting concept, I have doubts about their ability to work with VMware, Microsoft, and others on creating a solid connection broker product.

Citrix Desktop Broker -> Citrix Desktop Server -> Citrix XenDesktop
http://www.citrix.com/xendesktop
Citrix has what seems to be all of the pieces needed to produce a connection broker product that is head and shoulders above the competition.  They have a very efficient transport protocol (ICA), they have a solid delivery platform (Web Interface, Secure Gateway, Access Gateway), they have figured out load balancing, session management, and the list goes on and on.  However, they have not yet made their connection broker product, which has now undergone two name changes,  utilize all of their existing technologies.  It still remains to be seen what the new release of the XenDesktop product will bring, although after much hype at the recent iForum 2007, the technical preview of the XenDesktop product has been pushed back to the ambiguous “early November.”  There has also been some feuding lately between Citrix and VMware after the recent purchase of XenSource by Citrix which also rasises concerns about the future compatibility of a Citrix connection broker package with VMware or other manufacturer hypervisors.

Dunes Virtual Desktop Orchestrator (VD-O)
http://www.dunes.ch
Dunes Technologies was recently acquired by VMware, which I can only assume means that VMware wants to incorporate the Dunes VDI product suite into their own product lineup.  A quick glance around the existing Dunes website reveals that the Desktop Orchestrator (VD-O) product is missing.  Because of this I don’t know that Dunes or its once upon a time VD-Oproduct

LeoStream Virtual Desktop Connection Broker
http://www.leostream.com/productVHDC.html
Currently the LeoStream product only supports the VMware hypervisor.  While this may not be a problem for existing VMware environments it does pose a problem should an alternative hypervisor emerge as a better platform for VDI.  In terms of feature set and scalability the LeoStream product does seem to be one of the current market leaders.  IBM is also referencing the LeoStream product for their VDI architecture.

Propero workspace
http://www.propero.com
Propero was acquired by VMware in April 2007, and the Propero website now redirectes to a VMware page that doesn’t give much insight into what they plan to do with the acquired Propero technology.

Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite (VAS)
http://www.provisionnetworks.com/solutions/vas/vas.aspx
Provision Networks seems to be one of the only independent (not associated with a hypervisor technology) connection broker manufacturers that really understands what people want in a connection broker.  They support nearly every hypervisor on the market, they have a web interface, they even support the logical pooling of a mixture of virtual and physical machines.  The one thing that I did find alarming was the frequent mention of a Provision Networks VAS client.  This would mean that existing terminals, computers, and other end points that may already have RDP or even ICA clients would need yet another remote connectivity client.

Zeus Virtual Desktop Connection Broker (ZXTM VDB)
http://www.zeus.com/news/press_articles/070423-001.html
Zeus already being a player in the web server, load balancing, and traffic management markets seemed to be a good fit for entering the VDI connection brokering space.  However other than a several month old press release there is no information about the ZXTM VDB product on their website.  Have they discontinued the product?  Will the technology be incorporated into one of the other ZXTM product lines?  Until there is some more information it is hard to consider them a player in the connection broker market.

In summary if you are evaluating VDI and need a connection broker solution the only two choices available today are the ones from LeoStream and Provision.  Technically the 1.0 version of the Citrix Desktop Server is also available but it is lacking in its feature set and will likely be discontinued in favor of their new XenDesktop product.
If you can afford to wait then it will probably be worth it to see how Citrix improves upon their XenDesktop product and also what VMware decides to do with their recently acquired technologies.