Microsoft and Citrix Expand Alliance to Deliver Virtualization Solutions From Desktops...

Microsoft and Citrix Expand Alliance to Deliver Virtualization Solutions From
Desktops to Datacenters

Companies to deliver desktop virtualization solutions and develop
interoperability between Citrix XenServer and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft
System Center.
REDMOND, Wash. and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Citrix Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) today
announced an expanded alliance to deliver a comprehensive set of
virtualization solutions to address the desktop and server virtualization
needs of customers. The two companies will work together to deliver and market
joint virtualization solutions with Windows Server 2008 to help customers
achieve a flexible and dynamic client computing infrastructure.
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For more than 18 years, Microsoft and Citrix have offered customers
solutions to deliver Windows-based applications using Citrix Presentation
Server(TM) running on Terminal Services. Now the companies plan to co-market
new client computing offerings with the next generation of Citrix Presentation
Server and the Citrix XenDesktop(TM) products, both based on Windows Server
2008 and Windows Optimized Desktop solutions, and managed by Microsoft System
Center. With these solutions, customers can build an array of flexible,
low-cost and manageable client computing options for different types of
enterprise users.
Citrix Presentation Server along with Windows Server 2008 enables
customers to deliver remote Windows-based applications at a low cost and with
high performance for users. The next generation of Citrix Presentation Server
will support and extend Windows Server 2008 and will help enable customers to
use Windows Server 2008 for the remote Windows application execution workload.
Citrix XenDesktop is a complete desktop virtualization system and, when
combined with Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized
Desktop and System Center, will help enable customers to deliver Windows-based
desktops to virtually all task-based and knowledge-based workers at a low
cost, and with high performance and enhanced security features. Citrix
XenDesktop, planned for release in second quarter 2008, will support and
extend Windows Server 2008 shortly after the availability of Hyper-V, a
hypervisor-based virtualization feature available as part of Windows Server
2008. The two companies will work together to co-market both of those
solutions -- Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix XenDesktop along with
Windows Server 2008 and System Center -- to help customers meet the full
spectrum of their Windows client computing needs. This expanded alliance also
marks an initial step toward a longer-term plan to collaborate on future
desktop virtualization solutions.
"Citrix's end-to-end virtualization strategy includes a strong shared
alliance with Microsoft and a commitment to continued innovation on the
Windows platform," said Mark Templeton, chief executive officer of Citrix
Systems. "By leveraging our strength in desktop virtualization in support of
the Windows Server 2008 platform and System Center, our development efforts
enable businesses to deliver the right desktop experience to the right user at
the right time for the increasingly diverse set of user needs. Customers
should find that our virtualization products together provide one of the best
ways to virtualize Windows apps, desktops and servers."
Microsoft and Citrix also have extended their alliance for server
virtualization to enable IT departments to run heterogeneous hypervisor
software. Citrix is developing a capability to enable the portability of
virtual machines between the Xen hypervisor in Citrix XenServer(TM) and
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. This capability will offer the companies' joint
customers a unified portfolio of virtual infrastructures that utilizes both
Hyper-V and the Xen hypervisor under a common System Center management
platform. This capability is scheduled to be available for beta evaluation in
the second quarter of 2008.
Microsoft and Citrix will offer server virtualization solutions with the
combination of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center family of products
and Citrix XenServer. Citrix will extend support for Windows Server 2008
Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center in all its virtualization products:
XenDesktop, Presentation Server and XenServer. As part of this collaboration,
a future version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager will support
managing Citrix XenServer, and Citrix plans to integrate Hyper-V with Citrix
XenServer. This collaboration will enable customers to easily deploy and
manage heterogeneous virtualization environments built on both Citrix
XenServer and Hyper-V.
"For nearly two decades, Microsoft and Citrix have delivered significant
value to customers, and we're excited to expand our work around desktop and
server virtualization technologies," said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of
the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. "Virtualization enables our
customers to deliver the right computing resources to their employees
virtually anytime, anywhere, regardless of the situation, and helps create IT
systems that are more efficient, more flexible and more cost-effective.
Microsoft and Citrix are working together on product integration so that
customers have access to comprehensive and flexible virtualization solutions,
all controlled by an integrated management platform."
Today's announcement is another milestone in the alliance between Citrix
and Microsoft. Also recently, the two companies have collaborated on solutions
designed to simplify branch office computing using Citrix WANScaler(TM)
running on the Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Internet Security and
Acceleration Server platforms. In the area of virtualization software, the
companies agreed in September 2007 to standardize the companies' desktop and
application virtualization solutions on the Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)
format as a common runtime environment. And in July 2006, before Citrix's
acquisition of XenSource, Microsoft and XenSource announced plans to provide
interoperability between Xen-enabled Linux and Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008.
About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) is the global leader and the most
trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 200,000
organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users
anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix
customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 99% of the Fortune
Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and
prosumers. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in
more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2006 was $1.1 billion.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
Citrix(R), Citrix Presentation Server(TM), Citrix XenDesktop(TM), Citrix
XenServer(TM) and Citrix WANScaler(TM) are trademarks of Citrix Systems Inc.
and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. All other trademarks and
registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

pr.mspx./ /CONTACT: Karin Gilles of Citrix Systems, Inc., +1-408-790-8544,
karin.gilles@citrix.com; or Rapid Response Team of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide,
+1-503-443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com, for Microsoft Corp.