Citrix HDX technology: 2 megabits per second for 3D remote work

In one of the past materials, we showed how to work with the Windows 7 operating system on the Apple iPad tablet. The ability to fully work remotely with “heavy” applications is just what makes virtualization technologies so attractive. This time, we will not be limited to normal office tasks and will show how you can use Citrix solutions for remote access to solve much more complex work problems using a set of Citrix HDX technologies.

I will cite several "complex" tasks. Is it possible to conduct a videoconference in a virtual environment using a webcam built into your “client” laptop? Can you watch videos in a virtual environment using a rather slow internet connection? And high definition video? Finally, is it possible to fully work with 3D applications remotely, including both games and complex complexes for three-dimensional modeling? Is it possible to remotely work with heavy applications on a multiprocessor workstation, connecting to it from a laptop? The answer to all these questions is positive, and in this article we will discuss Citrix solutions used in such tasks in more detail.


A set of technologies Citrix HDX (High-Definition User Experience) was announced in 2009 as an addition to the solution XenDesktop, providing virtualization of workstations. You can test these technologies in practice by downloading and installing a trial 90-day version of XenDesktop Platinum or Enterprise from here (you will need to fill out a small form). The HDX contains several solutions. Here are the main ones:
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• HDX MediaStream — delivers multimedia content, including video, sound, or, for example, Adobe Flash video to a client device. It supports the most common video and audio formats, and provides the best video quality, depending on the type of client. For example, on a laptop running Windows with installed media codecs, video processing will be performed on the client side without loss of quality. But if necessary, such processing can be carried out on the server side.

• HDX RealTime - allows you to connect a microphone and a webcam of the client device to the virtual operating system. An example of connecting a webcam to a remote operating system is shown in this video:



• HDX Broadcast is a key component that allows you to stream multimedia content in virtually any environment. Effectively compresses and caches data (images, video, etc.) for maximum efficiency even with a slow internet connection. If even a modem connection to the network can be enough for working with ordinary office applications, 3D graphics or video will require at least a one and a half to two megabyte channel with low latency. In this video, you can see how optimizing HDX Broadcast when working with graphics in PowerPoint can reduce the necessary bandwidth by five times - from five megabits per second to one:



• HDX Plug-n-Play - using HDX, you can connect not only a webcam and a microphone to a virtual OS. HDX Plug-n-Play technology also provides work with local printers, supports connecting multiple monitors, and even allows you to work with media players connected to the client machine.

• HDX RichGraphics is the most interesting component that provides effective transfer of three-dimensional graphics to the client machine. This technology can work in two modes. The first does not impose serious requirements on the server and allows you to transfer three-dimensional content (anything from Google Earth to the latest "Civilization" and CAD systems) via a local network. The second mode can be used on a workstation with a powerful NVIDIA video card with CUDA support (having on board 128 stream conveyors). In this case, the video card is used both for processing 3D-content in the application, and for compressing the data stream to minimum values. This video demonstrates the launch of 3D applications in a virtual environment, including CATIA CAD systems:



You have the ability to customize the quality of the transfer of graphics using the built-in utility HDX Config Tool. Depending on the type of network connection, graphics (2D or 3D) can be transmitted in the original quality, or with different degrees of compression.



Examples of using

Of course, nothing will prevent you from using HDX to run in the virtual OS of the latest GTA series. But the main scope of HDX technology is professional 3D applications. In particular, Citrix solutions are used by the Swedish concern Volvo for the design of trucks. The developers remotely connected to servers in Sweden from Japan and Australia and worked on the CATIA design system. Thus, the issue of security is solved: remote developers get access to new projects, but data is not stored on client devices. Accordingly, the risk of information leakage is reduced.

Finally, for ordinary users, all the above-mentioned technologies give one important result: they almost do not notice the difference between working in a virtual environment and working with a regular operating system on their own PC or laptop. They can work with complex graphics in office programs, can organize video communication with colleagues, connect their own devices, and so on. A demonstration of "custom" examples of working with HDX (Google Earth, videos on YouTube and the like) is shown in this video:



What's next?

Citrix HDX technologies are continuously being improved, and the next stage of development will be the new HDX Nitro project. Announced earlier this year, the HDX Nitro technology suite will provide confident work with multimedia content and professional graphics. The bandwidth requirements of the channel will be reduced even more, in particular, it will be possible to transmit content without delay when connected with latency up to 300 milliseconds. Any available communication channel with a working server will be used to 100%, and at the same time - without delay.