You can manage the hosted applications with the XenDesktop infrastructure. You can create and manage application desktop groups and the applications they host, manage the XenDesktop controller environment, configure hosts and connections, enable the use of smart cards, control user access and sessions, and monitor the applications. These settings can be controlled using Studio and the SDK.

Hosted applications are the applications that are installed on and accessed from the server, where the processing takes place. This is the traditional application publishing model. For many organizations, this provides the lowest cost of ownership for IT resources because it provides the highest scalability.

Published applications publish specific applications and deliver only these applications to users. This option provides greater administrative control and is used frequently. Applications are typically published using XenApp.