Is Citrix right for us?

cazziebo

I joined a small, not for profit organisation (4 employees) a few months ago and we all use an outsourced Citrix solution. Our main uses are for Outlook access, and a small requirement for shared document access.

I find it unbearably slow and unreliable. I travel frequently and I just can't access with mobile broadband for more than a few minutes at a time. In the office there are some mornings it can take up to an hour to log on (error 2010 or 2030 I think). I now use my desktop and email myself but that's causing me problems with version control.

Two of my colleagues say they have similar issues but the boss says he has no issues at all apart from slowness at times.

The helpdesk is difficult to deal with. They always insist the issue is the machine (they only have responsibility for Citrix), the internet connection, anti virus software, but once did say the server was particularly busy.

Small organisation, very strapped for cash, I don't want to call in an expensive expert until I can understand better what the issue is. Is Citrix the best solution for us? Would we be better using a hosted server or our own (which is what I'm used to)? None of the four of us are IT experts, and I'd say three out of the four aren't IT literate at all. So we need something that we don't need a lot of input to.

Any ideas?

TwistedPsycho

My experience of Citrix is from a very large national company - thousands of Citrix terminals scattered in locations across the country working on a 24/7 basis in some, office hours in others.

It is horrifically slow in my experience. At the time of day that the office staff are logging in the network grinds to a vritual halt which considering the job us 24/7 staff do, is simply not acceptable.

Saying that, we are still using Internet Explorer 6 for the mainstay of that side of things.

kabayiri

I'm not convinced about Citrix in a small scale environment.

Personally, I'd suggest looking at something like the Synology 1511+ NAS unit.

It's effectively a low power server under a grand, and is expandable.

There are lots of features already built in, and plug-ins. You could easily run a mail solution or file sharing from it.

Maybe ask in the Synology forums. Boil your requirements right down to a simple wish list.

hth

Mrs_Arcanum

Have you looked at any local server providers or IT repair companies. They may be able to offer or suggest a more useful & personalised service which Citrix cannot manage. We also have issues with connections around the country being hit and miss & put this down to the O2 dongle as well as loading times being incredibly slow in the office.

buglawton

Switch all to Google Docs if it's a not for profit organisation, why waste money?

bengalknights

As Buglawton states google docs might be more useful and at the same type maybe using a corporate gmail service will work out cheaper.

amcluesent

>Any ideas?<

Google mail, Google Docs. Mozilla Thunderbird mail app so you don't need to be online to review/write emails.

Shermanator

Being that you currently use Citrix, then it is worth sticking with it. I manage many Citrix environments and it is by far the way to go for remote working.
Regardless of what software you use for remote connections, it will only ever be as good as the connection at your office and the connection where you are at that time.
All the symptoms that you describe suggest poor configuration/administration. You have paid out the money for the software, so rather than pay more for alternatives, the initial investment has been made, therefore any further expenditure should be made investigating/resolving the issues you are having.
A good IT company should be able to point out issues on an implementation of this size within a few hours....
HTH

Owain_Moneysaver

Another vote for google mail / docs etc. Or if you run your own server you can get remote access solutions that will work on slower lines - look at NX / Nomachine which is supposed to work over dial-up.

buglawton

OP mentioned that the not-for-profit org has 4 members of staff. The costs of employing skilled services to configure and maintain Citrix are a wild overkill if all they need are things like Word-alike, Excel-alike and Email with collaborative, decentralised working.

Google Docs and Gmail should handle it all using intermediate IT skills.

If OP would like to post their total cost of ownership of using Citrix we might be better informed here.

cazziebo

Thanks for all your help.

We haven't paid any money upfront for software - we only pay a monthly management fee which is roughly £170 pcm. This includes support.

I understand the connection will affect the running of the programme, but I can easily access the internet very quickly outside of Citrix, but on Citrix it is impossibly slow. In addition, I have problems wherever I am so cable to broadband, wifi, mobile. Can't blame the connection every time.

I'm going to look at hosted solutions and google docs. any idea how much it would cost to get a onceover from a (truly) independent expert? (although even a Citrix guru chum says he would not suggest Citrix for an org our size and needs!)