Microsoftee CC Hameed posts an article about the exciting changes and architecture overview of RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.

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With RemoteApp and Desktop Connection, administrators can create an aggregated and customized view of RemoteApps and desktops and assign them to users.  Users can then access the RemoteApps and desktops from the RD Web Access portal, or subscribe to a web feed which will seamlessly integrate them into a Windows 7 Start menu and automatically update the list as published applications and desktops change.  Additionally, administrators can deploy the RemoteApps and desktops directly to users using a variety of methods.

There is no single component that provides RemoteApp and Desktop Connection functionality.  Rather, various aspects of RemoteApp and Desktop Connection functionality are provided by specialized RDS role services and other components including:

• Remote Desktop Session Hosts – provide traditional session-based desktops and RemoteApps to users.  These resources can be published via RD Web Access, or deployed directly to users via .msi or .rdp files.  Administrators can assign RemoteApps to users.
• Remote Desktop Virtualization Hosts – the new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) of RDS in Windows Server 2008 R2 enables an administrator to provide access to virtual desktops through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.  The desktops are virtual machines hosted on a Windows Server 2008 R2 system with the Hyper-V role and Remote Desktop Virtualization (RD Virtualization) role service installed.  A user can either be assigned a personal virtual desktop or a desktop from a virtual pool.
• Remote Desktop Connection Broker – RD Connection Broker’s centralized publishing enables administrators to aggregate RemoteApp programs, session-based remote desktops and VM-based remote (virtual) desktops from various sources into a single customized view for users.
• Remote Desktop Web Access – RD Web Access serves two main purposes in RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.  First, users can log in to the website and access RemoteApps, session-based and virtual machine-based desktops.  RD Web Access provides users with the ability to connect to resources from Windows Vista and Windows XP systems in addition to Windows 7 clients.  Users can also subscribe to a web feed which will integrate RemoteApp and Desktop Connection resources into their Start menu.  The menu is then updated automatically as the list of published applications and desktops changes.
• Remote Desktop Gateway – Administrators can use RD Gateway to help secure remote connections in cases where access to the RD Web Access web page from the internet is needed.  RemoteApps and virtual desktops can be configured to use specific RD Gateway servers, no RD Gateway server or specific RD Gateway settings when users connect using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
• Windows 7 client computers – Windows 7 client computers include a new RemoteApp and Desktop Connection control panel applet.  Using this applet, users can specify the URL of a web feed which will integrate all RemoteApp programs, session-based desktops and virtual machine-based desktops into the Start Menu under a new program group.
• Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 – provides a new notification area icon to show connectivity status

Let’s walk through the configuration of a RemoteApp and Desktop Connection web feed via the control panel. 

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Ask the Performance Team : Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2: RemoteApp and Desktop Connection