This year, I'm looking forward to catching up with the team from Liquidware Labs.  These guys are industry experts, and they've been around the desktop virtualization market for quite some time!  Founded in 2009, Liquidware Labs has proven themselves to be an industry leader and pioneer in desktop virtualization solutions.  And they provide VMware and Citrix users with an arsenal of weaponry, including award-winning products such as Stratusphere FIT and Stratusphere UX  for desktop visibility; ProfileUnity with FlexApp and FlexDisk for desktop portability; and Flex-IO which supports IOPS acceleration in VDI environments.

I've been following the company very closely ever since they first started.  So if your company leverages or plans to leverage desktop virtualization technology, make sure you come by their booth at Citrix Synergy to get a first hand look at what they offer.

To dig in a little deeper and find out what Liquidware Labs has in store for Citrix Synergy, I spoke with Jason E. Smith ahead of the show to get a sneak peek.

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VMblog:  Liquidware Labs is once again sponsoring Citrix Synergy.  For the folks attending the show, how can they find you?

Jason E. Smith:  Liquidware Labs is a Silver Sponsor this year at Synergy and we are located in Booth 434.  We are in a larger space than we've been in previously so visitors can comfortably get a demo of our products and chat with our experts on the value of our offerings in a Citrix implementation.

VMblog:  And is there anything interesting or unique about this year's booth setup?

Smith:  We are very excited to be launching the next major release of ProfileUnity with significantly enhanced FlexApp application layering features.  The new release greatly enhances desktop management and security by controlling the three major stress points in any virtual desktop environment: user profiles, policies, and applications. 

VMblog:  For those who visit the booth, what message about your product can you send them back with to sell their boss on your technology?

Smith:  You are getting some of the most innovative and elegant solutions for Citrix desktops on the market on par with the quality of Citrix's offerings.   But the three main takeaways are:

• Liquidware Labs innovated the industry's original Desktop Transformation Essentials suite which includes ProfileUnity User Environment Management, integrated FlexApp Application Layering features, and our Stratusphere UX Visibility solution.
• Our products are very affordable and require no elaborate back-end systems to put in place. Our solutions leverage your existing Windows AD, Group Policy, and storage infrastructure. You will be using them within hours of installation and gaining results immediately. The ability to leverage existing infrastructure doesn't waste any cycles building up another stack that will compete for your IT staffs' attention and efforts.
• Support and Training, from Liquidware Labs directly, and from our wide partner network, is second to none.

VMblog:  Every year, the Synergy expo hall is filled with a sea of booths.  Why should an attendee put you on their "MUST SEE" list?

Smith:  You absolutely need to see ProfileUnity with FlexApp.  We are providing an affordable and seriously sophisticated option for application layering with robust user environment management for Citrix environments.  Anyone who thinks that they'll need to consider VMware Workspace Environment Management and pay a premium for these features, and dilute their Citrix framework, will be in for a nice surprise at Booth 434. Our offerings are extremely competitive feature-set to feature-set compared to VMware WEM and in many ways go beyond their offering. In fact, we "Dare You to Compare," and will place bets with anyone; you will be blown away by what you see.  And it is impossible to beat our price point, our entire suite is less than half the price of anything that comes close to comparing.

Second, if you are looking for user experience metrics to augment Citrix Director, you absolutely need to look at Stratusphere UX.  No other solution offers the unique time-based metrics within Stratusphere UX that allows you to monitor the health of your Citrix environment - both XenApp and XenDesktop.   And for diagnostics, no competitor even comes close.   Time after time, when other solutions fail to uncover the root cause, Stratusphere UX has come through to solve the problem.  That is why this solution is used by major agencies in the FED space as well as leading enterprise organizations all over the world.

VMblog:  You guys have sponsored Synergy quite a few times.  What keeps you coming back?

Smith:  Liquidware Labs was founded in 2009 and have been a strong Citrix Partner since our inception.  We have been attending both Citrix Summit and Synergy annually from our first day.   We won the Solution Partner of the Year in 2011.  Our products are Citrix Ready Certified, and we are now a Founding Sponsor of the Citrix User Group Community.  The majority of our channel partners are also Citrix partners, so the ties that bind our two organizations are strong and intricate.

Both Citrix and Liquidware Labs are all about next-generation desktops.  And Citrix is a highly regarded engineering-focused organization - respected by true geeks everywhere.  We share the same philosophy of investing our time and energy into developing world-class products that offer practical relevant results to the Windows desktop community.

VMblog:  Most Citrix Synergy attendees enjoy a good giveaway or trade show tchotchke.  Are you guys giving away anything special or fun this year?  

Smith:  This year we are promoting the theme "Get Powerful Apps with FlexApp," and we are going to give-away very cool and unique t-shirts. 
  

VMblog:  Does your company have any speaking sessions during the show?  If so, can you give us the who, what, when and where? 

Smith:  Yes, absolutely!  Here are the details, and we hope everyone can add it to their agenda.  The session is all about Application Layering solutions (SYN 315) and is Thursday, at 3:30. The time overlaps with the Beer Crawl on the Expo floor. Don't let that keep you away! Grab a drink and then come up and attend our session.  You won't be sorry. We plan to make the session very educational.

Title:  Application Layering for XenApp and XenDesktop Single Image Management 

Presenters: Doug Brown- CTP & Jason E. Smith, Product Director, Liquidware Labs

Presentation: Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop is the most used desktop virtualization platform in existence with over 100 million users. With PVS streamed desktops, published applications, and full remote access, Windows Server and desktop image management can be a full-time job for an Administrator. New application layering solutions now make it possible to "snap-in" applications on a department or user basis making it possible to assign applications without dedicated server builds!

In this session you'll learn:

• The Benefits to Single XenApp and XenDesktop Management via Application Layering
• Differing approaches to Application Layering
• Real-world use case for Application Layering and XenApp & XenDesktop

VMblog:  What are you guys looking forward to most at Citrix Synergy this year?

Smith:  Basically every time we go it's like a Citrix reunion.  The best part is meeting all our old friends again, and meeting new ones.

VMblog:  Do you remember your first Citrix Synergy event?

Smith:  I actually exhibited at the first "Citrix Thinergy" in Orlando in 1998 at the Dolphin hotel. I was working for a modem sharing company at the time. It was a great event and you could visit all the booths in less than 30 minutes if you had wanted to. The Founder of Citrix, Ed lacobucci, made an effort to say hello and thank every exhibitor personally, telling us that he was glad to be partnering with us to build something big. It left quite an impression. Years later in 2009 with Liquidware Labs, we were proud to commit to Citrix Synergy as a 2010 exhibitor and since then we've not missed a single one!  

VMblog:  Based on past experiences, what are you looking forward to most at this year's event?

Smith:  Showing off our cool new software and seeing attendees mouths drop open when they see what we now have to offer.