This research note is restricted to the personal use of nbacso@parallels.com
Xen to XenServer, while others are deploying CloudPlatform as a cloud management platform, often leveraging XenServer. Regardless, the service provider opportunity for XenServer will be a challenge to monetize, and not nearly as important to Citrix as enterprise-derived desktop virtualization projects (especially in the near term). Earlier in 2013, Citrix announced that the Xen Project is becoming a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, which opens up Xen to the large Linux and open-source ecosystem of vendors and contributors. We believe that the broader exposure of Xen can help accelerate the adoption of Xenbased technologies (including XenServer) in cloud environments. Key to Citrix's strategy is its ability to leverage a very large and loyal customer base (of more than 200,000 customers) of all its products. These customers typically use a variety of Citrix products/ technologies, with XenApp and XenDesktop as the products holding most of the mind share. Although Citrix has been successful selling both, the company recognizes that the market opportunity for mobile and bring your own device (BYOD) is much more attractive, whereby XenMobile and CloudGateway are better-positioned. As such, XenApp, XenDesktop and XenServer have more competition for customer mind share. While VMware vSphere continues to be a broadly used hypervisor in XenDesktop deployments, many enterprises are beginning to question the viability of supporting a different VM infrastructure when they could reduce costs by using XenServer or Hyper-V. This is certainly a trend that Citrix hopes to exploit for desktop virtualization and cloud infrastructures, and one for which Citrix has had some success, especially in smaller companies. In server virtualization, Citrix and Microsoft have an intriguing relationship that can confuse some customers. While Citrix supports Hyper-V and has a long-term partnership with Microsoft, winning at the desktop layer is important if Citrix will expand its management, automation and cloud business further. As a result, Citrix's go-to-market strategy regarding how it competes with and complements Microsoft remains confusing for many customers and channel partners. Regardless, it is apparent that Citrix is willing to sacrifice the server platform to Microsoft and Hyper-V to grow its desktop virtualization business. Marketing and sales execution remain key future success factors for Citrix. While server virtualization remains important to Citrix, the company's business focus is moving further up the stack and isn't reliant on winning at the hypervisor layer. Citrix is committed to continuing to deliver innovations in the XenServer product for cloud and desktop and has been actively revamping its product strategy to align closely with the recently announced open-source Xen strategy. During the past year, Citrix has shifted its communications and marketing efforts away from XenServer and instead has focused more on mobility, the cloud and desktop delivery. Strengths â–
Rich product capabilities for low cost
â–
Large opportunity in the cloud services provider market that relies heavily on open-source Xen today
Page 3 of 22
Gartner, Inc. | G00251472 This research note is restricted to the personal use of nbacso@parallels.com