What does ICA stand for Citrix
ICA (Independent Computing Architecture) is a proprietary protocol for an application server system that was designed by Citrix. It is a cross-platform protocol that specifies how data is transferred between a server and its clients. ICA provides an alternative to Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) when remote access is required.
Using the ICA protocol, Citrix affords many benefits such as secure remote access and cost savings. However, setting up Citrix USB redirection can be challenging.
How Citrix USB redirection works
If a USB device has not been optimized for virtual channel support it will default to raw USB redirection using the generic USB virtual channel. XenApp supports audio redirection as long as the correct configuration is made to the user account enabling generic USB.
Generic USB redirection can be used to connect USB devices attached to client machines to virtual XenDesktop sessions. The user gets the same functionality as if they were physically connected to the USB device. Using generic redirection eliminates the need for device drivers to be installed on the client machine as only the virtual desktop needs to support the device driver.
USB Redirector is a software utility that enables a remote virtual session to interact with locally-attached USB devices. It's a great solution to implementing Citrix USB scanner redirection. Shared USB devices immediately appear in a remote session as if they were just physically connected.
The Citrix ICA protocol has been supported in USB Network Gate since version 7.x of the tool. You can easily share USB devices with a thin client using the ICA specifications.
