Citrix Collaborating with Intel to Deliver Xen-Based Client Virtualization Solutions

(Auszug aus der Pressemitteilung)

BOSTON – January 21, 2009 – Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), the global leader in application delivery, announced today that it will develop the industry’s first application and desktop delivery solutions optimized for Intel® vPro™ technology. In a collaboration agreement with Intel Corporation, Citrix plans to produce a new class of virtualization solutions that optimize the delivery of applications and desktops to millions of Intel-based devices, dramatically reducing the cost of desktop management. The first-of-its-kind hypervisor-based virtualization solution will bring both mobile and office users the benefits of centralized desktop virtualization with a rich, personalized PC environment. As a result, any mobile and office worker will now be able to take advantage of enterprise-scale virtualization without sacrificing security, manageability, ease-of-use, performance and mobility.

“This innovative approach from Citrix and Intel has the potential to swing the pendulum toward desktop virtualization alternatives and disrupt a traditional desktop management industry that is costing enterprises billions of dollars a year today,” said Mark Bowker, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). “By serving as a transparent delivery platform, this approach has the potential to positively transform the corporate desktop ownership equation and improve how enterprise IT manages the delivery of applications and desktops to their users.”

At the heart of the new solution from Citrix will be a bare-metal Xen-based desktop hypervisor optimized for Intel® Virtualization technology and other features of Intel® vPro™ technology. This new client hypervisor, which will be made available to PC manufacturers and enterprises worldwide, will enable IT professionals to, for the first time, dynamically stream a centrally managed corporate desktop, and all related applications, directly into a secure, isolated client-based virtual machine (VM).

Unlike server-based desktop virtualization technologies, this approach caches and executes desktop and application software directly on the PC client, enabling high performance, rich graphics and full off-network mobility for laptop users. The combination of centralized desktop and application management with a rich, secure, personalized and mobile user experience will enable enterprises to reduce the escalating cost of managing an increasingly mobile workforce while enhancing security and always-on access to corporate applications for Citrix and Intel end users worldwide.

In addition to its virtualization capabilities, Intel vPro technology, now in its third generation, provides a unique array of remote management and security capabilities. With vPro technology-enabled devices, IT managers can, for example, troubleshoot and potentially repair a PC even if its operating system or hard drive has been disabled.

“Citrix and Intel have worked together to lead the development of the open source industry standard Xen hypervisor, which has brought an entirely new level of openness, security and scale to the server virtualization industry,” said N. Louis Shipley, Group VP and General Manager, XenServer product group at Citrix Systems. “Extending that collaboration to the client will enable our Citrix Delivery Center infrastructure to communicate directly with millions of Intel-based devices, changing the game in desktop virtualization in a way that benefits customers of both companies.”

“This collaboration is aimed at producing a client virtualization solution that provides excellent capabilities in every key category from easy centralized image management to a rich, mobile end-user environment,” said Gregory Bryant, Vice President, Intel Business Client Group, and General Manager, Digital Office Platform Division. “This solution also will expand on the management and security capabilities of Intel vPro technology to help IT with its increasingly important objective of reducing costs while providing tools for greater productivity.”

Extending Xen-based virtualization to the Client
In 2008, the Xen open source community established the Xen Client Initiative project to foster the development of a Xen-based solution for client environments (see press release here). The new Xen client hypervisor resulting from this collaboration between Citrix and Intel will be optimized for bare metal virtualization and ideally suited for delivery as a small footprint embedded component of an enterprise laptop or desktop PC, and can also be installed on existing client systems that already have an operating system installed.

Availability
Additional details about the new Xen client hypervisor optimized for Intel vPro, including availability, will be announced at a future date.