Citrix Systems Inc, the Coral Springs, Florida software developer dedicated to developing multi-user versions of widely-used desktop operating systems, has turned its skills to Microsoft Corp’s Windows 3 with the launch of WINcredible, which it claims dramatically expands the number of stations that can take advantage of Windows 3.1 and enables high-performance remote access to Windows. WINcredible is a complete Windows system with extensions by Citrix to support multiple concurrent users, either locally over local networks and serial connections or remotely over dial-in modems. It operates with existing Citrix products to provide complete Windows-capable implementations, the company says, and was made possible by the licence agreement between Citrix and Microsoft covering Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups. Microsoft has retained Citrix to pull similar tricks with Windows NT. WINcredible can be used to configure a Windows remote access server, a Windows application server on a local area network, a wide area network Windows application performance booster, and a low-cost starter system for multiple Windows users. WINcredible/A+ Remote turns a single 80386- or 80486-class computer on a network into a complete Windows remote access server, including full asynchronous communications support and Windows application execution services. There is no application downloading, and Citrix’s ICA 2.0 minimises the data that traverses phone lines, and if the line goes down, the session remains intact until the user re-connects. WINcredible/A+ Remote also works with Novell Inc’s NetWare Asynchronous Communications Services 3.0, which handles the local net modem pool and asynchronous communications, while WINcredible/A+ Remote provides MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2 application execution services to users dialling into the Novell system. WINcredible will be offered as an add-on to current Citrix products in the first quarter of 1993 at $500. Citrix A+ Application Services Pack’s is $2,990 for a 20-user licence. Citrix A+ Remote and Multiuser start at $1,300 and $1,000 respectively for five-user licences.
