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Citrix has built a browser, and lost a CEO
Chrome, Edge, and Opera can rest easy – this one's designed just to run virtual apps Citrix already manages
Citrix has created a web browser and lost its CEO.
According to a regulatory filing, in early October, the company's board appointed Robert M. Calderoni as interim CEO, after David Henshall stepped down from the role. The change was sudden and unexpected but appears to have been amicable as Henshall continues as an advisor to Calderoni.
The company is hunting for a new CEO.
Henshall took the big chair in 2017 and was at the helm as the company's fortunes improved so much that activist investor Elliot Management vacated its board seat – a sign of confidence its goals had been met on the CEO's watch.
One of the former CEO's initiatives was Citrix's Workspaces, an evolved application publication and security product aimed at providing remote access to on-prem and SaaS tools.
The new Citrix Workspace Browser is derived from the open-source Chromium browser engine and requires the presence of the Workspaces client.
"Launching any internally hosted web application or a SaaS app with security policies from within Citrix Workspace will trigger the Citrix Workspace Browser," explains a Citrix post announcing the browser's existence.
Those policies can be applied on a per-URL basis and allow things such as preventing screenshots for particular web apps, or preventing downloads or printing. Watermarks can be applied to screens as well.
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The browser is integrated with Citrix's Secure Access zero-trust network access wares, so can access remote apps without the need for users to run a VPN.
As a Chromium fork, the browser's look and feel diverges very little from that of Google's Chrome – doubtless a deliberate choice aimed at giving users of Citrix Workspace a familiar experience.
Citrix has published a short video showing off the browser's many talents.
The browser is generally available and is bundled with the Citrix Workspace app for Windows and macOS, as of version 2109. ®