CDW White Paper Sample

The two most common methods to “deliver” the desktop experience to a user device (thin client, PC, etc.) are the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) which is built into every Windows XP and Windows 2000 Server (and later) operating system and Citrix Systems’ Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) Protocol.

The RDP client is now standard on every Windows operating system. It also can be downloaded for free when using an operating system older than Windows XP. RDP clients are also available for Linux and Macintosh systems, so the technology is widely available to connect Windows desktops remotely.

Citrix’s ICA Protocol is slightly older than RDP. However, it delivers a much faster, richer customer experience to access devices. Until recently, ICA was only available to connect to desktops hosted on servers via Citrix XenApp (formerly Presentation Server).