Citrix rings the changes

In the past few weeks, Citrix has announced several product upgrades and other bits of news but I have been in hibernation for a while and have neglected to keep you informed. For this I apologise. Writers block methinks. That and a valiant, but ultimately fruitless, attempt to improve my golf.

Below is an update of the main announcements with a few pointers as to what they entail (where possible).

XenApp version 5.0 (Sept. 10th)
As you are probably already aware, the name Presentation Server was changed a while back to XenApp. September 10th will see the release of version 5.0 of this now 19 year old Grand Dame, the backbone of the whole Citrix portfolio. Essentially, it still does the same as it did in the old Winframe days which just goes to show that legends never die. The improvements this time around are as follows:

- Runs on Windows Server 2008. (Now, in my opinion, for a company like Citrix, who are supposed to be best mates with Microsoft and are one of the few to have source code level access, a release date for a W2K8-compatible edition of their main product of almost 7 months (!) after the MS release is nothing short of a shambles. What on earth have they been doing?! I am told (but can't confirm) that a Citrix competitor, Ericom, had a W2K8-compatible edition long before Microsoft even released 2008.)

- Opens applications 10 times faster than version 4.5.

- Tighter integration with XenDesktop and XenServer.

- Easier prioritisation of specific applications and users.

Quite why this has been pushed out as a .5 version release is beyond me. The only main difference to 4.5 appears to be compatibility with Server 2008, which I don't think really justifies a .5 version release, 4.6 would have sufficed. Justification for Subscription Advantage holders perhaps? Alignment with other product versions? The latter is more likely.

Provisioning Server for Desktops and Datacenters (sic) version 5.0
No details on what exactly is new.

Password Manager version 4.6 with Service Pack 1
- W2K8 support for console, agent and service
- Vista support for agent
- Usability enhancements (templates, terminology etc.)

EdgeSight for XenApp & Endpoints version 5.0
No details on what exactly is new.

NetScaler 8.1 (July 08)
Minor release

Branch Repeater (May 08)
Branch office box based on WANScaler and Microsoft ISA server.

New Support Offerings (effective immediately)
- New Preferred Plus Platinum option offers a 24x7 support contract with 75 incidents, 2 education passes for XenApp and a week long infrastructure assessment with 2 consultants for $89,000 (!).
- New 24x7 option specifically for XenServer.
- Price to add on additional contact person slashed from $1,500 to $500 per contact.

XenServer "Orlando" release
Probably the most interesting piece of news, in terms of added functionalities, is that of the XenServer "Orlando" project. According to Bridget Botelho, who interviewed Simon Crosby recently (the Citrix XenServer CTO), there are about 100 improvements, enhancements and new features coming in the new version - which I hear might now be 5.0 rather than 4.2. This would make sense bearing in mind my XenApp version alignment comment above and 100 new features would surely justify it!

Absolutely integral to XenServer's long-term success is High Availability. Customers have been screaming for it, indignantly pointing out VMWare's automated re-start capability for servers that crash. Despite this NOT, I repeat NOT, being true HA, VMWare's salespeople have managed to brainwash many of their customers into thinking it is. Nevertheless, XenServer will have this in the next version. The only truly fault tolerant HA solution would involve a 3rd party such as Marathon, Double-Take, Neverfail or SteelEye and Citrix have got extremely cosy with Marathon of late. No further comments on that for now but I feel there may be some space that needs watching...

Still nothing new on the Symantec front though. Just before the acquisition, XenSource scoped up an OEM agreement, to integrate with what used to be Veritas. Since the Citrix take-over, nothing further has happened. Perhaps this is one of the reasons.

Price increases
Citrix are increasing their product pricing in EMEA by about 10% across the board, effective September 1st. Subscription Advantage prices are unaffected for now but will be hit with a similar increase on 1st January 2009. This is apparently in response to the weak dollar and the costs of doing business internationally. In an ironic twist, the announcement coincided with a huge drop in the pound from 1.98 to 1.83 against the dollar (which, I don't mind admitting, has left distributors reeling from having to honour outstanding pricing based on the 1.98 dollar rate). I also read a quote somewhere from a Citrix spokeswoman (unfortunately I can't find it any longer) who claimed there had been no price increases for a long time and their hand was pretty much forced. So what was this then?

Being in a privileged position, I can't tell you everything I know about the roadmap but suffice to say there are a couple of other interesting things on the horizon. The above covers what I believe I can publish without getting into too much trouble. And I shall get my act together and update this blog more often from now on. Slacker.