SaaS and Web Apps in StoreFront

In a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployment, many organizations use StoreFront to provide access to Windows and Linux applications and desktops.  A lesser know feature, published content, can let StoreFront publish links to SaaS and web applications in an attempt to bring all resources together into a single view.

(I see the differences between SaaS and web apps as follows: SaaS apps are browser-based applications hosted by a 3rd party while a web app is a browser-based app hosted within the internal datacenter). 

Unfortunately, SaaS/Web apps introduces some interesting challenges for users:

• SSO – Users must remember the username and password for the app
• App protection policies – Admins have little control over what capabilities users have within the app (printing, downloads, screen captures, etc).
• Website filtering – Admins are unable to verify the URLs within the app is safe
• Remote Access – When users are external, admins need to allow remote access to internal web apps.

At Synergy, Citrix announced a tech preview to integrate Citrix Access Control service with an on-premises Storefront deployment, helping to solve these challenges.

First, let’s look at how this works for SaaS applications.

Second, we turn our attention to Web applications

I haven’t even touched upon the security capabilities of Access Control. You can read more about them here:

• SSO to SaaS
  No more passwords. No more access after employees have left the company.
• Enhanced security for SaaS apps
  No more printing, downloading, copying data locally
• URL filtering within SaaS apps
  No more blind faith that my users understand security implications of selecting a link

Daniel (Follow on Twitter @djfeller)
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