Citrix has used its annual
Citrix iForum user conference in Edinburgh to outline how it
will turn datacentres into more efficient application delivery
centres for end-users.
Entering the conference stage to an extended piece by his
favourite band
The Moody
Blues, Citrix CEO Mark Templeton said, "We need uplifting words
for the times we are living in today, what with the price of a
barrel of oil and global economic uncertainty. The songs and words
of The Moody Blues tell a story, and they are uplifting."
Templeton told the hundreds of users in attendance that they
were part of a growing band that has seen a million Citrix-powered
servers deliver applications to 100 million end-users. He that said
75% of all web traffic was now "touched" by Citrix infrastructure
somewhere along the line.
Templeton said that although 80% of enterprise costs were now
fixed, innovation underfunded, and improvements incremental, the
distributed enterprise was now even more distributed and firms need
solutions that turned their datacentres into more efficient app
delivery centres.
"When I want to improve, I look at others to learn from them,"
Templeton said. He used the example of satellite TV companies as
the ideal business model for delivering the improved datacentre
application delivery services Citrix was striving for.
He said they delivered a simple, fast and on-demand experience
were device, network and application independent and provided
content security and access control. In addition, they saw
predictable operating costs - "unlike most IT departments", he
said.
The use of repeaters and receivers, like those used in the
delivery chain of satellite TV, was something Citrix planned to
copy, he said.
Wes Wasson, Citrix chief marketing officer, outlined on stage
what Citrix was doing to deliver improved application delivery.
He said Citrix had struck a deal with fellow
web acceleration technology provider Akamai, which will see
joint Citrix and Akamai application delivery systems sold through
integrators.
The Citrix element will centre around the recently updated
NetScaler platform. It will be combined with Akamai's cloud-based
Web Application Accelerator service to bring end-to-end web
application delivery to internet and enterprise customers
worldwide.
In addition, when customers buy the Platinum edition of
thin-client-based platform XenApp, they will now get Wan
acceleration platform WanScaler and the IP telephony technology
EasyCall. Currently, Wasson said, 35% of XenApp users were on the
Platinum edition.
To improve the lot of users in branch offices, Citrix has
launched Citrix Branch Repeater. Wasson said, "More than 50% of
users are accessing apps in branch offices, and they need the same
service as those in or near the datacentre."
Like a repeater on a network, Citrix Branch Repeater optimises
and strengthens a delivery signal to enable the faster delivery of
apps.
Wasson also announced Citrix App Receiver, a piece of software
that sits in a user's system tray to optimise the receipt and
processing of apps sent to the desktop.
Wasson was not finished however, as he previewed Citrix Workflow
Studio, which will automate routine configuration and
administration tasks. A "technical preview" of this is now
available, to be followed by a "public preview" later this year,
said Wasson.