It's based on the TCP but can use UDP in certain situations.Ĭitrix also offers HDX 3D Pro for high-end graphics application delivery. HDX refers to all the technologies Citrix offers that deliver the end-user experience, including multimedia redirection, browser acceleration, bandwidth control and other components. Citrix HDXĬitrix's remote display protocol was originally called ICA, but the company evolved the offering into the HDX suite in 2009 with the release of XenDesktop 3.0.
While Microsoft provides RDP clients for Windows and Mac, Citrix provides HDX clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, Blackberry, iOS, Android, Sun and more. Plus, Citrix historically provides more clients for HDX. But HDX is still better known for performance over the WAN. The differences between RemoteFX and HDX were more apparent before some of the changes to RemoteFX in Windows Server 2012.
However, Microsoft also added RDP 8.0 support for client access devices running Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (although not all new RemoteFX capabilities are included).
Keep in mind that you'll have to upgrade to Windows 8 to get some of these enhancements. Video: Comparing the major remote display protocolsĪn overview of remote display protocol technology RemoteFX in Windows Server 2012 also comes with multitouch support and Adaptive Graphics, a feature that does visual element-rendering on the host rather than the client. RDP was initially for LAN-only delivery, but the latest version adds WAN optimization. Windows Server 2012 RemoteFX allows Remote Desktop Services to use UDP when necessary, while previous versions could only use TCP. does support the protocol for use in XenDesktop environments. RemoteFX works on Hyper-V only, although Citrix Systems Inc. RemoteFX, an enhancement to Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol, was released with Windows Server 2008 R2 to boost high-definition graphics rendering. As desktop virtualization expert Brian Madden says, you can have "low bandwidth, good experience, low CPU … pick any two." Microsoft RDP/RemoteFX Plus, if you want low CPU use, your protocol will hog bandwidth and weaken end user performance. Great performance requires a lot of bandwidth, which can clog the network. Remote display protocols have their limitations, especially when it comes to delivering graphics-intensive applications. UDP does not confirm that all packets are received at the endpoint, but that means it's faster for delivering media-heavy messages such as video. Plus, if an error occurs, TCP sends the affected data again. TCP is more reliable because it makes sure that a connection is maintained until all the data is delivered. TCP divides data into packets and reassembles them at the endpoint, while UDP does not sequence the packets. RemoteFX, HDX and PCoIP are Layer 7 protocols that are based on two Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack Layer 4 protocols: the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). What's under the hood of a remote display protocol? Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), VMware's PC-over-IP (PCoIP) and Citrix's HDX are the most commonly used, but there are other protocols from companies such as Ericom and Hewlett-Packard.Įach remote display protocol works differently depending on the network and which applications are being delivered, so you need to know how the major protocols diverge. Popular remote display protocols offer high-resolution sessions, multimedia stream remoting, multi-monitor support, dynamic object compression, USB redirection, drive mapping and more. In VDI environments, the remote display protocol has a big responsibility: to transmit data from a data-center-hosted desktop to the endpoint.