There are several VDI products on the market now, including Citrix XenDesktop, VMware VDI / VMD2, Qumranet Solid ICE, and Quest's Virtual Access Suite. In this session, Brian Madden will compare the various solutions and look at what's real and what's not. This will be one of our interactive workshop sessions where we'll look for feedback and discussion from the audience about what people are looking for and what peoples' experiences are with the current products.

To view the presentation, click here or on the screen grab below.  The associated slide deck can be downloaded here.

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As for timing, the only dates they have that do NOT conflict with other major events in our industry are Wed-Fri, July 22-24, 2009. How do those dates sound for everyone? (Please don't respond with "that's my wife's birthday, so I can't come.") We're looking for feedback as to whether these dates conflict with anything major. Here's a list of all the conferences we can think of that we're trying to work around:

VMworld Europe: February 24-26, 2009
MVP meeting: March, 2009
Citrix Synergy: May 4-7, 2009
TechEd: May 19-22, 2009
iForum Edinburgh: June 9-11, 2009
VMworld: September 1-4, 2009
Citrix Summit: October 26-29, 2009

So what do you think? Can we sign the contract for those dates? (BTW, these are the only dates that we can have the event in Chicago. So if there is a major conflict that we're not aware of, we'll have to start from stratch in a new city.)

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Project Raley was first shown at BriForum 2008 Chicago in a session entitled "The Data Puzzle - Putting the Pieces Together." From the event description:

It is of utmost importance to know all you can about your data center environment. Unfortunately, data has a lot of hiding places. In a typical data center environment there is information in event logs, databases, WMI providers, Active Directory, third party applications, etc.

In this session we will show you how to use Service Oriented Architecture principles to aggregate all this information into one location showing as much or as little detail as you like. Don’t be frightened by some of the terminology used because at the end of this session, you will be able to easily create your own applications and/or reports tailored to your environment. Create a few of these applications/reports for management and you will look like a rock star!

To download the slides for this presentation, click here.

To watch the video, click here or on the screen shot below.

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From the session description:

This session will be a discussion of tools that are available to find out what applications are doing. Rick will show some examples on the use of the tools to solve problems running specific applications, either as a non-privileged user or on terminal services. The examples will include AutoCAD 2008.

A few words about who this session is for - This session is for IT professionals responsible for successfully deploying applications either on locked-down (user not local admins) VDI VMs and fat clients or on Terminal Services.

To download the slide deck, click here.

To watch the video, click here or on the image below.

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Brian Madden and Kevin Goodman have been doing this session since BriForum 2006 in Washington, D.C., evolving it over time as new servers and platforms have been released. From the session description:

This session documents the steps of a logon to a Citrix XenApp Server from a successful credentials negotiation to the displaying of a published application. Each step of the process will be described in detail, including how virtual channels, user profiles, and user sessions are initialized. This is the session from past BriForums that produced the "Logon Chart," and we'll be releasing an updated chart to include XenApp 5 and Windows Server 2008.

To view the video, click here or on the screen capture below, and the flow chart can be downloaded here (4MB JPG).

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So, in an effort to keep up with the times, today we're releasing the updated Xen vs. VMware video from BriForum 2008 in Chicago. In this session, Ron will share his results of running Xen and VMware ESX head-to-head on the same hardware. In addition to normal server testing, Ron also tested Citrix Presentation Servers as guests in each environment.

The slide deck for this presentation can be downloaded here.  To see the video, click here or on the image below.

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A new Brian Madden Company employee

First things first: I'm Jack, a media editor with The Brian Madden Company, and our newest employee. I'm also Brian's youngest brother, commonly refered to as "the guy who looks like Brian but is fifty pounds lighter." This is an error. I should be referred to as "the guy who looks like a more attractive version of Brian, is fifty pounds lighter, and can run faster."

Before I became a full-time employee, I was a music major at a liberal arts school. Now I'm the envy of many other artists, musicians, and hippies since I have a 'real' job to support myself while I try to find a job in my field. (On a side note, if anyone has a need for a classically-trained bass trombonist, please contact me.)

I joined The Brian Madden Company right before BriForum Chicago 2008. Right now I'm working on the BriForum DVD set, and I just finished editing our very first set of video podcasts.

Video Podcasts

This set of video podcasts was filmed during BriForum in the DEMO Lab, surrounded by hundreds of attendees. We wanted to relay the excitement of being right there, so we followed Brian with a video camera as he met with the vendors. Click on the logos below to watch the video podcasts.

Read More on The BriForum Chicago 2008 Attendee Blog

"You know," Kevin said, "This conversation would make a great webcast."

And so it was.

This Wednesday, July 30, at 12:00 noon Eastern time (5:00pm GMT, 9:00am Pacific time), Kevin and I will host a free webinar where we discuss the cool things we saw and learned at BriForum. We'll talk for about 45 minutes, and we'll have Q&A at the end and then wrap-up by 1:00.

Registration for the webinar is now open, and there is no cost. Kevin is the CEO & Founder of RTO Software, so RTO is handling the registration and the logistics of this event.

Talk to you all on Wednesday!

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In this session, Thomas will talk about and show you the new features of XenApp Web 5.0. To view the presentation, click on the screen shot below. The associated PowerPoint can be downloaded here.

While you're checking out the video, take a look at the new screen swapping feature (the arrows under the head video) and the full screen feature (icon in the lower left corner).

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Presentation #1, Hyper-V unleased can be downloaded here: http://www.virtuall.nl/seminars/BriForum2008/BriForum08HyperVunLeashed.pdf

Presentation overview:

• Microsoft Virtualization 360
• Virtualization within WS08
• Hyper-V benefits and disadvantages
• Managing Hyper-V and ESX with System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• 'War of the Virtual worlds'

Presentation #2, Streaming Smackdown 2008 Edition can be downloaded here: http://www.virtuall.nl/seminars/BriForum2008/BriForum08StreamingSmackdown2008.pdf

Presentation overview:

• Application and Desktop delivery solutions overview
• Application Streaming (Endeavors Application jukebox)
• Application Virtualization (Microsoft App-V, Altiris SVS, Citrix XenApp client side virtualization, Thinstall, InstallFree and Xenocode)
• Application Analysis (AppDNA)

At BriForum alot presenters and experts submitted there baby photos and 'fun facts' so Brian Madden could create a nice presentation for the attendees. After some searching in old photo books I found a nice picture of myself which fits great in the streaming smackdown session http://www.virtuall.nl/seminars/BriForum2008/BriForum08StreamingSmackdown2008.jpg

Presentation #3. Top10 challenges with SoftGrid (and other application virtualization solutions) can be downloaded here: http://www.virtuall.nl/seminars/BriForum2008/BriForum08Top10challengeswithSGandOthers.pdf.  Shawn Bass was also heavily involved in creating and presenting this session.

Presentation overview:

• OS/Shell integration
• Core 'vs' Virtuall
• IE, WMP and Plugins
• Services and drivers
• Sequencer gotchas
• Troubleshooting
• High Availability
• Branch Office
• Offline use /DR
• Performance

These three BriForum days were awesome and both from technical and personal point of view worth visiting. CU next time!? 

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• Out of shape IT Admin.
• Walked from downtown Chicago to far end of Navy Pier.
• Parched from walk. 
• Mentally-strained from trying to fold pocket-guide. 
• Somehow ended up at Beer Garden.
• Too tired to get up.
• Waiting for streaming video.

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We have people from more countries than ever before too. In addition to the expected North American and European countries, we have a few people coming up from Australia, as well as people from Slovenia, Taiwan, and Israel.

Sponsorship is really strong too. We have support from 21 different sponsors this year, including 17 companies who will show off their technologies in our DEMO Lab. We've been here at the Navy Pier all day today, and some companies have some pretty impressive setups. (DataCore and Kemp Technologies' booths required forklifts to get their gear into the building.)

In the last three minutes, my emotions have cycled through nervous, excited, worried, nervous, and excited. I wonder whether palm sweat damages a laptop?

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Case-in-point? Tim's Mangan's SoftwareWOW! shirt he wore at BriForum 2005:

(What is SoftwareWOW? You'll have to ask Tim.)

To that end, I thought it would be cool to pull all these old shirts out of our closets and wear them, and what better place to do that than BriForum next week? So dig out those Digital, Wang, Inacom, and Citrix Multiuser shirts, because next week is Retro IT Shirt week at BriForum.

The coolest retro IT shirt, as voted by our applause-o-meter at the closing keynote, will win $100! (Approx. €5)

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briforum.com/m

It's just a simple site, but it has the important bits.. The schedule for each day, the rooms, times, abstracts, and presenters.

Thanks for the great idea Edgar!

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