Citrix Expands Leadership in Open Cloud Computing

Citrix Systems today announced several key additions to its Citrix OpenCloud™ infrastructure platform for cloud providers. The new enhancements raise the bar in cloud interoperability, scalability and self-service – further extending the company’s leadership position as the most widely deployed provider of virtualization and networking solutions for the open cloud. To further accelerate its OpenCloud strategy, Citrix also announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VMLogix, a leading provider of virtualization management for private and public clouds.

The acquisition of VMLogix is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions. It will add key lifecycle management capabilities to the Citrix OpenCloud platform, making it easy for cloud providers to offer infrastructure services that extend from pre-production and quality assurance, to staging, deployment and business continuity. The acquisition will also allow Citrix to add an intuitive, self-service interface to its popular XenServer® virtualization platform – a key component of the OpenCloud framework – enabling end users to access and manage their own virtual computing resources in on-premise private cloud environments, much like they set up virtual services in large public clouds like Amazon or Rackspace today.

Citrix also announced plans to expand its OpenCloud platform to include enhanced networking and interoperability capabilities. These new additions will include the ability for customers to seamlessly manage a mix of public and private cloud workloads from a single management console, even if they span across a variety of different cloud providers. All of these enhancements will be available to the more than 600 service providers worldwide who are now certified to deliver services based on the Citrix OpenCloud platform.

Facts and Highlights:

New additions to the Citrix OpenCloud infrastructure platform include:

Open Lifecycle Management – The VMLogix acquisition will add open virtual lifecycle automation and self-service capabilities that support all leading virtualization platforms. These capabilities will make it easier for IT teams to build, share and deploy production-like environments on-demand in both private and public clouds, and migrate virtual workloads between production stages with a single mouse click – even across different hypervisors. By giving users self-service access to a single pool of computing resources, cloud providers can help customers reduce capital expenses and improve flexibility, even across diverse virtualization and cloud environments.
Open Cloud Interoperability – To accelerate cloud interoperability, Citrix will also be integrating the Citrix OpenCloud infrastructure platform with OpenStack, the open-source orchestration and management technology it is co-developing with Rackspace, NASA, Dell, and more than 20 other leading technology and cloud service providers. The OpenStack orchestration capabilities perfectly complement the Citrix OpenCloud platform by adding key cloud management functions and enabling cloud providers to give customers open integration as well as a more consistent view of both private and public cloud workloads. In booth #1219 at this week’s VMworld conference, Citrix will be demonstrating the ability to manage workloads across XenServer virtual machines running in an on-premise private cloud, and VMs running in a public-cloud environment using OpenStack – all from a single management console.
Open Cloud Networking – The Citrix OpenCloud platform will also be adding powerful new virtual switching capabilities that leverage the Open vSwitch project, and support the OpenFlow protocol, an emerging industry standard that pools the resources of per-host virtual switches to create a dynamic, distributed, policy-controlled cloud fabric. These new capabilities will make it easier for cloud providers using the Citrix OpenCloud platform to create isolated, multi-tenant cloud environments, while offering dynamic, per-flow control, and per virtual-interface policies. They will also enable rich packet processing capabilities at the network edge, including the ability to leverage advanced application networking capabilities in Citrix® NetScaler®, another key component of the OpenCloud platform.

Availability

The new Citrix OpenCloud capabilities will be demonstrated at the Citrix booth (#1219) at this week’s VMworld conference. Several of the new OpenCloud capabilities, including the new self-service and virtual switching technology, will also be included in the next release of the free Citrix XenServer virtualization platform at no charge to enterprise or cloud customers.

Quotes

Klaus Oestermann, Group VP and GM, Networking and Cloud Product Group, Citrix

“At Citrix, we believe in providing choice as a fundamental driver for enterprises and cloud providers to truly drive cloud economics. This isn’t about giving customers the ability to buy the same offering from multiple sources – it’s about providing them the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of cloud services designed around an open framework that encourages both innovation and interoperability while optimizing cost. With the expanded capabilities of the OpenCloud platform for lifecycle management, cloud interoperability and cloud networking, we are further delivering on our core belief to provide true choice for our customers.”

Jim Curry, General Manager, OpenStack

“By embracing OpenStack cloud software, Citrix is demonstrating a great testament to the power of the open model. Citrix has shown tremendous support for that model by contributing development resources to ensure XenServer compatibility with OpenStack. We are excited to see an OpenStack-powered solution for enterprises integrated with the XenCenter management console. We think this is just the start of many advances that will be built on OpenStack and we welcome Citrix and the rest of the tech world to use this powerful model to advance the world of cloud computing.”

Related Links and Announcements

Blog, August 30 – The Open vSwitch - Key Ingredient of Enterprise Ready Clouds, Simon Crosby, CTO, Datacenter and Cloud Division, Citrix
Blog, August 30 – Serendipity and the Art of Customer Centricity, John Humphreys, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Citrix
Blog, August 30 – The Cloud is Open - See How It Stacks Up, Roger Klorese, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Citrix
Blog, August 30 – Open Cloud – a Platform for Innovation, Steve Shah, Sr. Director, Product Management, Citrix
Press Release, July 19 – Rackspace Open Sources Cloud Platform; Announces Plans to Collaborate with NASA and Other Industry Leaders on OpenStack Project
Blog, July 19 – VMware Project Redwood = Dead Wood?, Simon Crosby, CTO, Datacenter and Cloud Division, Citrix

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About Citrix

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is a leading provider of virtual computing solutions that help companies deliver IT as an on-demand service. Founded in 1989, Citrix combines virtualization, networking, and cloud computing technologies into a full portfolio of products that enable virtual workstyles for users and virtual datacenters for IT. More than 230,000 organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to help them build simpler and more cost-effective IT environments. Citrix partners with over 10,000 companies in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2009 was $1.61 billion.

For Citrix Investors

This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release, which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements by the company concerning new capabilities of certain of its products, its plans to expand certain of its platforms to include enhanced capabilities, the proposed acquisition; the timing of the acquisition; integration plans, and management's plans, objectives, strategies and assessments of market factors, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks associated with revenue growth and recognition of revenue, products, their development and distribution, product demand and pipeline, economic and competitive factors, the Company’s key strategic relationships, acquisition and related integration risks, the possibility that the proposed acquisition will not close, including that the closing may be delayed or that the companies may be required to modify aspects of the acquisition to close the acquisition; the satisfaction of closing conditions to the acquisition; the reaction of customers of Citrix and VMLogix to the acquisition; Citrix's timing and ability to successfully integrate VMLogix's products, operations (including migration of VMLogix to Citrix's systems and controls) and employees; the introduction of new products by competitors or the entry of new competitors into the markets for Citrix's and VMLogix's products; the failure by Citrix to retain key employees of VMLogix; failure to further develop and successfully market VMLogix's technology and products, including failure to execute Citrix's sales and marketing plans and failure to successfully partner with key distributors, resellers, OEM's and strategic partners, as well as other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citrix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.

The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion and is subject to change without notice or consultation. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not a commitment, promise or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions or incorporated into any contract.

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