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Citrix Conferencing Manager 2.0 Product Review
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Citrix Conferencing Manager is a relatively new product from Citrix. Riding on your existing Metaframe infrastructure it provides an intuitive interface for your users to work collaboratively on applications in Citrix. Think of the expensive web conferencing services such as Webex or Raindance. This takes all that per minute expense in house and the kicker is the concurrent licensing model that makes this technology purchase easy to justify. In a nutshell your user shadow a common session within the confines of a virtual conference. The Citrix Conferencing Manager interface makes it easy for users to create and join conferences.
The 2.0 version had some really odd bugs which have mostly disappeared after a couple hot fixes. There now exists a 3.0 version that adds functionality that 2.0 should have had all along.
Installation to an existing Citrix Metaframe farm couldn't be easier. You add the software to any Citrix server you want to run the application. ONE Citrix server in your farm keeps track of the various conferences running on other servers. This is simply an option during the install to specify that server. The software publishes itself to the farm and your off and running. There is a neat Outlook Add-in that lets you schedule conferences and always has a .ICA file in the calendar request for easy launching. I used CLOSEAPP.EXE to create a nice remote deployment script for my users.
The nice thing about this product is that most users could open the Citrix Conferencing Manager application and see how they can start and join a conference. What requires a bit of training is the process to pass and take control during a conference. The oddity in 2.0 is that the leader can give control and take it back. Users who were given control cannot give control around the conference. In version 3.0 I'm told this feature has been added. Additionally the conference leader can open other applications from the easy to use toolbar at the top. The controls during a conference are easy to get at and then turn into ghost boxes when they are in use and the mouse is dragged away.
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| Pricing is reasonable at about $90.00 per concurrent user (Retail) I'll admit we paid far less but you can do your own shopping. When you compare this with up to $.24 per minute some conferencing places charge it quickly becomes a bargain. | |
| Another useful feature in the new 3.0 is the
ability to provide "anonymous" conferences. This takes the product
from inside the network and allows you to use it in a DMZ environment to
conduct sales meetings or other web conferencing type applications. Overall this product is a winner despite its initial odd bugs. Citrix has addressed these and I'm anticipating seeing the new 3.0 version. For presentations, training and application collaboration you can't beat this add-on to your Citrix Metaframe farm. |
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