Citrix Rolls Out Deals, Products at Synergy 2011

During Citrix Synergy 2011 this week in Barcelona,  Citrix Systems (CTXS) announced a broad new set of products, solutions and programs designed to help small and medium businesses move from the PC Era to the Cloud Era by capitalizing on the benefits of desktop virtualization.

Citrix announced that it has acquired App-DNA, updated VDI-in-a-Box 5, produced a HDX ready System-on-Chip and Wyse announces day one support for VDI-in-a-Box.

App-DNA Acquisition

Citrix announced it has agreed to acquire App-DNA, a leader in application migration and management, and long-time Citrix partner. The acquisition serves as a key element to Citrix's enhanced Desktop Transformation strategy and accelerating deployments of desktop virtualization enterprise-wide. App-DNA's flagship product AppTitude gives organizations the ability to intelligently assess their application portfolio and migration plans. “Customers want to move to virtual desktops faster but often don’t know how to evolve their application portfolio. App-DNA provides customers a clear roadmap and the ability to automate the migration of their applications to new virtual environments. As part of a complete desktop transformation strategy with a proven methodology for deploying virtual desktops across all users, Citrix and App-DNA together help customers more quickly realize the business benefits and operating efficiencies of creating a virtual computing environment," said Bob Schultz, Group Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Desktops and Applications at Citrix.

Driving down the cost of Virtual Desktops

Citrix announced new desktop transformation technology innovations and tools that further reduce both the cost and time of deploying virtual desktops. They are enhancing the 2010 Citrix Desktop Transformation model with new tools and processes that IT organizations can leverage to plan and implement a successful enterprise-wide desktop virtualization strategy. With the advancements announced at Synergy 2011 Citrix predicts that within six months the cost of virtual desktops will be less expensive than physical desktops.

This will be driven by things like Citrix FlexCast delivery technology, the new Citrix HDX Ready System-on-Chip (SoC) program and innovation from Citrix partners. New tools set to enhance the Desktop Transformation Model include Success Accelerator for XenDesktop design, a Virtual Desktop Assessment tool for taking and assessing inventories, AppTitude (from App-DNA), and XenDesktop Personal vDisk Technology as a part of their recent acquisition of RingCube.

VDI-in-a-Box 5

Citrix announced version 5 of their all-in-one virtual desktop solution, VDI-in-a-Box, in support of their new SMB initiative. Following the acquisition of Kaviza in May 2011 the new release is purpose-built for SMB customers and eliminates over 60 percent of VDI costs without compromising features. "There is pent-up demand among small and medium organizations who want to realize the benefits of desktop virtualization but have been underserved by existing solutions," said Krishna Subramanian, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, SMB Solutions, Citrix. "Together with our partners, Citrix is breaking down the barriers for smaller organizations wanting to realize the business agility and efficiency of virtual desktops but face tight budget and resource constraints." VDI-in-a-Box 5 will be released this quarter.

Citrix HDX Ready System-on-Chip

Citrix announced a new HDX Ready System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative, designed to enable an entirely new generation of devices to deliver high-definition virtual apps and desktops at an unprecedented low cost using the company’s market-leading HDX technology. This will allow non-traditional devices like network monitors, phones, smart keyboards, consumer set-top boxes, shop floor equipment, kiosks and hospital workstations-on-wheels to be able to display virtual apps and desktops directly, without the need for an a full PC at the endpoint. With design assistance from partners Texas Instruments and NComputing Citrix built the HDX SoC reference architecture based on standards and off-the-shelf components. "We applaud Citrix and embrace this initiative. The enterprise will too," said Raj Dhingra, CEO, NComputing. "Combining the power of Citrix HDX with NComputing Numo SoC virtual desktop technology will solve the cost and complexity issues of traditional thin clients, as well as provide the blueprint for future virtual desktop devices and form factors. Historic barriers to deploying VDI in the enterprise will be removed; at the same time paving the way for entirely new and more powerful VDI architectures and environments – to deliver a rich user experience, at radically lower costs of acquisition."

Citrix CloudGateway

Citrix announced the next stage of their CloudGateway strategy with a unified service broker that aggregates, controls and delivers Windows, web, SaaS and mobile apps to any user on any device via the Citrix Receiver universal software client. It will be generally available in three months and comes in Enterprise and Express editions.

Wyse Solutions in Support of Citrix Initiatives

Wyse Technology announced sweeping support of new Citrix products and initiatives.  Wyse announced the addition of new HDX features in its popular thin and zero client line, powered by the company's Wyse Zero firmware engine. With the enhancements and new product updates Citrix has announced at Syngery Wyse users will benefit from improved performance, management and security, along with new features providing additional wireless capabilities, advanced multimedia, flexible language localization, and audio and peripheral support. Wyse’s entire range of thin clients supports VDI-in-a-Box. “SMB customers are seeking easy, affordable virtual desktop solutions that do not paint them into a corner.  Coupling Citrix’s easy yet complete solution with Wyse thin and zero clients takes VDI to the next level of simplicity without sacrificing core functionality.  We are pleased to partner with Wyse and share our vision of plug-and-play virtual desktops for the SMB market,” says Krishna Subramanian, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Citrix. Wyse also recently announced a major extension of how its cloud client computing technology supports the work of the Salvation Army in the UK.