2X ApplicationServer leverages and extends Windows Terminal Services and provides the ability to publish individual applications to user desktops such that they can share applications that are installed only on a centralized Terminal Server. Shared applications feature "seamless windows" displays in that they look and feel like local applications to the end user (when minimized they appear in the local task bar, copy and paste is supported between local and remote apps, etc.). Clients connect to the 2X ApplicationServer through a customized, RDP-based shell, and therefore require their own client component to access the published applications; the vendor offers clients for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X end users.

The application is offered in both a Small Business Edition, which supports application publishing from a single Windows Terminal Server; and an Enterprise Edition, which supports the publishing of applications from multi-server Terminal Server farms. Core components of the platform include the 2X Application Server itself, which includes both the application Publishing Agent Service and the Management Console; the 2X Terminal Server Agent; and the 2X Client Gateway.

The Publishing Agent and the Management Console both install on a Windows 2000/2003 Server machine with Windows Terminal Services active, and provide the core application publishing and management features of the platform. The 2X Terminal Server agent is installed on the individual Terminal Servers and collects and reports usage and status information for each terminal server back to the central server. Finally, the 2X Client Gateway enables all terminal server connections to be placed through a single port connection. When used in combination with the 2X LoadBalancer, communications through the 2X Client Gateway can be protected via SSL, enabling end-to-end encryption.

Features of 2X ApplicationServer include:

- Support for the publishing of individual applications to the user's desktop, or the entire desktop as an application

- Applications can be published based on user, groups, or IP (Active Directory integration is supported).

- A "Universal Printer" driver that, according to the vendor, enables any client device to print to any shared network printer of any make, model, or print driver. Client-side printing is also supported.

- Multiple, backup ApplicationServers can be deployed in redundant configurations (the Publishing Agent features automated redundancy).

- In addition to the support for Mac, Linux, and Windows clients, applications can also be published to a Web page for browser-based access.

Closely related to 2X ApplicationServer (in fact, the two products are described together in the vendor's user manual) is the 2X LoadBalancer, which allows for the implementation of load balanced farms of Windows Terminal or Citrix Servers. 2X LoadBalancer works by acquiring information from Terminal Servers or Citrix Servers with the aid of the 2X Terminal Server Agent installed on each server (which report system resources and the number of sessions running on the server). It then applies either resource-based or round robin algorithms to select an appropriate server for new user connections. An additional feature allows for the reconnection of broken sessions (the vendor notes that some conditions apply).

New features in the latest release of 2X ApplicationServer include:

- Support for individual Web application portals, which users access via the Web and which display the published apps that the user has access to based on their login

- Multiple (up to 10) monitor support

- The ability to limit a user to a single instance of any application

- Single sign-on

- Support for multiple terminal server farms; I.E., each client can now connect to multiple terminal server farms

- Support for URL/Mail redirection, allowing E-mail and Web links to be redirected to the local E-mail client/Web browser

2X Application Server is available now. A 5 user Small Business Edition (on a single Terminal Server) is free, while support for unlimited connections to a single terminal server starts at $695.

Visit the 2X Software Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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