Citrix Strengthens its Cloud Capabilities

Citrix Systems, one of the leaders in cloud, collaboration, networking, and virtualization technologies, announced new capabilities around cloud and virtualization at Citrix Synergy 2012.

The cloud major, with new announcements, is optimistic about empowering businesses of all sizes. Citrix also unveiled its strategy and said that they are focusing on mobile workstyles.

Citrix president and CEO Mark Templeton said that the exceptions of PC era are new assumptions of the cloud era. With new capabilities, he said, the company is well poised to take on all competitors together.

The cloud and virtualization services giant also said that China and India are the growing economies and they should not be locked in legacy systems. "It's an exciting time ahead for innovators and individuals who care for a change," Templeton said.

The company is also set to introduce new products and solutions later this year based on its ambitious project Avalon. "The objective of this project is to protect investment in XenApp and XenDesktop," he added.

Citrix together with multiple partners also launched the first wave of devices featuring the new HDX SoC technology. With HDX SoC (System on Chip), new thin clients from ATrust, Centerm, NComputing and ThinLinx reduce the cost of high-performance HDX Ready thin clients drastically by improving the return on investment for desktop virtualization.

Citrix partner HP also unveiled an innovative new All-in-One zero client that possess Power-over-Ethernet and consumes a mere 13 watts of power, less than half of that of comparable devices in the market today.

Citrix announced a series of integrations between its apps like GoToMeeting, GoToAssist, Podio, ShareFile, and Citrix Receiver with additional support for third-party apps and services like, Microsoft Skydrive, Evernote, and Google Apps.

New Releases and Enhancements

The virtualization major has introduced GoToAssist for Android and iPad that will facilitate video conferencing on-the-go. Citrix Receiver can facilitate data access from any source or device. It will be available in July.

Citrix ShareFile with Store Zone, it said, is industry-leading innovation that helps individuals choose where data is stored and facilitates designate zones in public clouds.

Citrix also banks high on XenDesktop with remote PC technology that can turn any office PC into a virtual desktop so that users can access it from anywhere.

Virtual desktops, it said, are cheaper than traditional PCs. With reduced cost and enhanced efficiency, the new HDX-ready thin clients are now available for $125.

Citrix CloudGateway, with more than 200 purpose-built apps can aggregate, orchestrate, and deliver data and apps to any device. Citrix CloudGateway2 for mobile, Web, SaaS and Windows apps, with single sign-on for native HTML, iOS, and Android can wipe apps and data remotely, it said.

The company has also announced the availability of CloudPlatform, the first commercially supported cloud orchestration system based on Apache CloudStack. While Citrix CloudBridge 2 for enterprise datacentres will be in June.

The cloud technology major is optimistic about Citrix XenClient adoption and said that it offers simple and easy enterprise-wide deployment and has automated backup and recovery capabilities.

The company has also said that Citrix NetScaler10 is now available with Amazon Web services. Citrix App DNA 6.1 version facilitates quick Windows migration and simplifies installation.

Acquisition Power

The cloud and virtualization major, which has in recent past acquired 7 strategic companies, said they boost its product portfolio with new capabilities.

With Virtual Computer acquisition, the company is leveraging former's expertise in management capabilities for XenClient, and said that it would help to offer end-to-end solutions. The company is all set to launch Citrix XenClient Enterprise Edition in October, 2012 for as low as $175 per user.

The recent Podio acquisition, company said, will help organizations and individuals to cut down the needs of Gmail and other cloud services. Integrated with Citrix products, Podio comes with more than 600 pre-built apps and facilitates team collaboration socially. The Podio is free for individuals working closely in a team upto 5 members.

(Muntazir Abbas was in San Francisco at the invitation of Citrix)