Citrix XenMobile Review (2024)

Citrix has been a player in the remote desktop market for over 25 years. A few years ago, they jumped into the mobile device management (MDM) space with Citrix XenMobile (which begins at $2.25 per device per month). When we looked at Citrix XenMobile last year, we focused on enrollment and installation on the different platforms as well as the product's inherent management capabilities. For this update, we confirmed those capabilities were still present and then delved deeper to test reporting and the productivity applications provided by Citrix. For this test, we were provided with a test account for XenMobile verison 10.6.3.14 that was hosted by Citrix. This let us test the app without the hassle of installing a local version of the software, and it's available as a standard deployment path to customers, too. But, while we liked the Citrix Worx apps, overall we found that XenMobile is still on the complex side, even for IT administrators. This is why the product remains slightly behind Editors' Choice winner VMware AirWatch.

A notable recent development for Citrix is a partnership the company has established with Microsoft and its Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) Suite, which includes not only Microsoft Intune but several security and identity management tools from Microsoft Azure, including Azure Active Directory (AD). The big question most people probably have is, "Why would I need two MDM solutions?" One answer to that question comes from a customer request to provide support for shared devices and apps. This isn't currently possible with Microsoft Intune as individual accounts are required in Office 365. The other answer is that many current Citrix customers want to use the secure Citrix apps but also want to take advantage of Office 365 and the Microsoft identity capabilities. Now customers can get the best of both worlds and, in many cases, they already have access to these products through corporate enterprise agreements.

Another key component of the Citrix platform is their NetScaler remote access hardware and software. This product has traditionally been used to manage large numbers of virtual desktop and remote users. New enhancements add the ability to support both Device VPN (Citrix's universal device VPN) and a MicroVPN (Citrix's version of a personal VPN) to provide secure access to internal corporate resources for remote users. While NetScaler is a separate product, it does need to be considered as part of Citrix's capabilities in the case of very large deployments where you have a high volume of traffic from outside the firewall.

Installation and Device Registration

The initial review of Citrix XenMobile was accomplished using an on-premises installation of their management server, delivered as a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM). For this updated review, we used a test instance provided by Citrix and hosted in their cloud environment. A small number of enrolled devices were already present, making it a little closer to a real deployment. We also enrolled our test devices using individual invitations sent via text message. Enrollment invitations will be sent via SMS for a single local or AD user. For groups, the invitation will come either via SMS to the device's mobile phone number or through an email by using profile information.

Registering individual devices consists of downloading the Worx Home app from the device-specific app store and then entering in the appropriate user information. For iOS devices, some additional authorization steps are required to install the custom certificates. With this done the device should show up in the management console fairly quickly and report everything it finds. I had no issues registering all three devices used for this test, and the overall process here is very smooth compared to much of the competition, including IBM MaaS360 (4.00 Per Device Per Month at IBM) and even VMware AirWatch.

Registering individual devices consists of downloading the Worx Home app from the device-specific app store and then entering in the appropriate user information. For iOS devices some additional authorization steps are required to install the custom certificates. With this done, the device should show up in the management console fairly quickly and report everything it finds. I had no issues registering all three devices used for this test.

Configuring users works either through an existing directory service such as Microsoft AD or any other Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-compliant directory. You can also import local users by using a flat file formatted with username, password, and groups, separated by a semicolon. This may throw some folks for a loop as the vast majority of other MDM and standard desktop management tools import devices by using the CSV file format. Individual users can be added by using the Add Local User dialog. Emails can then be sent to groups of users for self-enrolling their devices. It's also possible to import a list of devices by using a flat file similar to the one for users. I should also mention at this point that Windows tablets are supported by XenMobile as well.

Management and Policies

XenMobile's management dashboard is highly customizable. Clicking on the Customize button brings up a screen letting you build up to four dashboards by choosing from seven different layouts and a range of different information. The screen uses a variety of graphical elements to display pertinent information and uses color to indicate status. Much of the information on the dashboard is clickable, with additional information available should you need more detail.

One useful element I liked on this dashboard is the ability to take an action right from the dashboard screen by clicking on the Plus (+) sign at the bottom of a particular widget. For instance, clicking on the iOS element in the Devices by Platform widget activates a fly-out menu with options including Actions, Export View, and Select All. The Actions button displays a list of items when you hover the mouse over the icon, including Send Notifications, Deploy, Selective Wipe, Full Wipe, Revoke, Locate, and Enable Tracking. This makes it easy to take action on one device or a group of devices right from the management dashboard.

The Reporting tab from the Analyze menu provides a list of 10 different reports which produce a CSV file. You can produce the same CSV directly from the dashboard screen by using the Export option as well. On individual devices, taking action such as locking/unlocking, selective and full wipe, or just locating, happens from the Manage tab. Selecting an individual device by clicking on the row containing the target brings up another fly-out menu with options to Edit, Deploy, Secure, Notify, and Delete. The Secure button brings up a separate menu box with the options mentioned previously plus App Lock and App Wipe.

I was able to test the partial wipe feature on the Windows Phone device and confirmed that all "corporate" data was removed. Once this procedure has been performed, the device will remain in the Devices list until you delete it. The status for the Windows Phone changed to "Device Unmanaged" after performing the selective wipe. It is possible to bring such a device back under management by choosing Authorize from the Security Actions menu. This might happen when a corporate device was turned in by an employee leaving the company and is subsequently reissued to another employee.

Best Value Pricing

Citrix prices their product at $2.25 per month per device or $2.89 per user per month for up to 10 devices. This price is for their cloud-hosted environment and includes the basic level of MDM functionality. Still, the per-device price is less than half the Microsoft Intune price, which only covers five devices. In reality, a single user rarely has more than five devices—with three likely being the number you'll encounter the most in multi-device situations. But the base per-user price for XenMobile is still a standout amongst the competition.

Citrix XenMobile provides a solid MDM product backed by the company that has been providing remote access solutions into Microsoft systems for years. A comprehensive management console makes performing routine management tasks easy, and the new Microsoft partnership will allow additional management of things such as Office 365 apps, which is something that's not currently possible from the XenMobile platform on its own.