Citrix unveiled the next phase of its strategy to enable the mobile enterprise and to help customers deliver business-ready cloud services. Key highlights coming out of its mobile enterprise strategy include :
1.) People
The Citrix mobile enterprise strategy begins with a focus on empowering people to work from anywhere, with anyone, on any device. For a start, GoToMeeting® HDFaces is now accessible via the iPad, making it easy to collaborate via video conferencing, audio conferencing and screen sharing while on the go, all from the convenience of a lightweight mobile tablet. Citrix’s recent acquisition of Podio also resulted in the new Citrix Podio, which enables the delivery of a powerful cloud-based team collaboration platform for companies of all sizes. Finally, the new GoToAssist® for mobile devices lets IT professionals provide live support from anywhere, connecting to employee computers and solving problems directly from any device.
2.) Data
To expand its cloud file sharing capability to a broader set of enterprise customers, Citrix unveiled the new ShareFile StorageZones technology, giving enterprise customers the ability to choose optimal locations for storing corporate data – either off-premise in the public cloud, or on-premise, within their own private datacenters.
3.) Apps
As the app landscape shifts, an increasing percentage of business applications are being delivered as web, SaaS, cloud and mobile apps. To assist businesses in this transition, Citrix announced the availability of Citrix CloudGateway 2, a powerful new update to its unified storefront solution that adds extensive mobile application management capabilities, including full support for native HTML5, iOS and Android apps. The new CloudGateway release also adds integration with ShareFile, giving customers a single unified control point for all apps and data enterprise-wide.
4.) Devices With the recent acquisition of Virtual Computer, a provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors, Citrix will combine Virtual Computer’s technology with XenClient to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. The combined solution will give corporate laptop users the power of virtual desktops on the go, while making it far more secure and cost-effective for IT to manage large fleets of corporate laptops across a distributed mobile enterprise.
In addition to introducing the above solutions, Citrix shared its “Path to the Cloud” strategy at Synergy San Francisco 2012, aimed at helping customers of all sizes deliver business-ready cloud services. Key highlights include :
1.) Build New Clouds
To accelerate the broad adoption of open, interoperable cloud computing, Citrix has focused its cloud platform strategy on the CloudStack platform, now part of the Apache Software Foundation. To bring the power of Apache CloudStack to its extensive enterprise and service provider customer base, Citrix unveiled the Citrix CloudPlatform, powered by Apache CloudStack. Citrix CloudPlatform is now a key component of the Citrix cloud computing portfolio, providing customers with a hyper-agnostic solution that makes it easy to build new clouds, connect to existing cloud services, and deliver unparalleled cloud services with the best security, performance and reliability.
2.) Bridge to Third-Party Clouds
At Synergy San Francisco, Citrix announced the introduction of CloudBridge 2, a new upgrade that makes connecting to third-party clouds even easier. The new release adds a self-service catalog of popular clouds that are pre-configured to connect to CloudBridge on the enterprise side, along with a new “one-click” provisioning capability that makes it far easier to connect to external clouds for the first time. Customers can also add new clouds to the CloudBridge service catalog as needed.
3.) Deliver Cloud Services to any Device
The recently released NetScaler 10 broke new ground in cloud networking with its innovative TriScale™ technology that brings the elasticity, simplicity and expandability of the cloud to enterprise and carrier networks alike. Using the new TriScale technology, NetScaler helps businesses of any size scale their networks “up, in and out” with ease, just like the world’s largest public clouds. This revolutionary new technology elevates NetScaler beyond traditional service and application delivery controllers, creating the industry’s most advanced cloud networking platform.
4.) Transform Existing Windows Apps and Desktops into Cloud Services
To help customers transition to more cloud-centric delivery models, Citrix announced Project Avalon, a powerful new solution that will bring together a wide range of Citrix technologies to help customers deliver any Windows app or desktop as a true cloud service. With Project Avalon, customers will be able to rapidly deploy personalized Windows apps and desktops in a flexible, private cloud environment across single or multiple sites, and utilize public clouds in a “capacity on demand” fashion for business continuity, integrating mergers and acquisitions, or supporting offshore projects.
