Today, Citrix announced new capabilities for its cloud and on-prem solutions for hybrid environments. As organizations are in different places in their movement to the cloud, Citrix hopes it can provide more customers with additional flexibility.
Citrix has long provided software to provide secure access to content and applications, but in doing so it will have noticed that the cloud can present challenges. In addition, it is not enough to offer a solution only for on-prem or for the cloud: one organization has already sent as many workloads as possible to the cloud, but another may use it sparingly.
Research
First, Citrix is simplifying its line-up: the products offering Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) will be combined into a common Citrix Universal subscription. These solutions are now available with deployment for “on-premises, cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid, or all of the above.” Delivering secure access in a unified way makes for a more streamlined experience, if it all turns out as planned.
The company cites a quote from research director Shannon Kalvar at IDC who states, “The future of compute is hybrid.” He thinks the enterprise sector is realizing that one needs to combine edge, cloud, data center and endpoint compute to meet all the challenges in the workplace. Citrix can attest to that from its own customer base.
One platform
One similarity between the Citrix announcement and recent equivalents from other software vendors is the movement toward one unified platform. What is special about this then is the ability to deploy that platform in a variety of ways. For example, it now offers Citrix Secure Private Access for SaaS applications for all kinds of environments. In addition, Citrix Web Studio is now coming to on-prem, after already existing on the cloud as a management solution.
“Many of our customers prefer the control that on-premises offers, with the scalability and flexibility of hybrid cloud,” said general manager at Citrix Sridhar Mullapudi. “Our latest services and features meet them where they are on their cloud journeys, benefiting enterprises with a reduced admin burden, improved user experience, and enhanced security.”
Concrete
Citrix also makes four concrete promises with the announcement. First, it states that the unification of the platform provides a more efficient workflow for IT administrators. It also talks about “workload and device flexibility,” where cloud services from Google, Microsoft and AWS can all work together. Next, Citrix talks about increased levels of security and compliance, as the company’s zero-trust approach can now cover all IT environments. Finally, Citrix names a streamlined employee experience, thanks in part to an improved Citrix Workspace interface.
Also read: Security is key to Citrix Workspace and hybrid working