Window Azure vs Citrix Xenapp vs Citrix XenDesktop over Windows Azure

Question

Current my company delivers our software to our customers through a Citrix Xenapp Server. As administrators we are able to launch instances of the servers and our customers are only able to launch their specific application

My Question is does Windows Azure also offer this type of environment. I am looking to deploy a new version of our application and I am leaning towards Azure, but if that is the direction we go in I would like to migrate all of our existing system to Azure and not maintain both Azure and Citrix ?

Or If directly not possible, then can we have alternative like

Windows Azure with Citrix XenDesktop ? I mean Citrix has released XenDesktop 6.5 & 7. Same time Microsoft allows Guest OS which now combined will resolved the purpose ?

Will it be Virtual Desktop as a Service over Windows Azure ? Will it possible & solve the purpose ?

Answer 1

Yes, Citrix XenDesktop 7 can be deployed on Windows Azure, with support for features such as live session roaming, multiple device types and formats, and rich user-interface media experiences.

For the announcement refer to Citrix Enables High-Performance App and Desktop Delivery from Windows Azure.

For an explanation refer to Hosting Citrix Desktops from Windows Azure.

This ability is supported by Microsoft's RDS (Remote Desktop Services) Subscriber Access Licensing (SAL) available for Azure. For more information about licensing refer to this blog article: Remote Desktop Services are now allowed on Windows Azure and also to the latest Microsoft Product Use Rights docs.