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Citrix Survey Finds College Labs Looking Ahead to Desktop Virtualization
76 Percent of Surveyed Higher Education IT Pros Interested in Adding Virtual Desktop Delivery to their Institution’s Virtualization Profile
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. » 11/24/2008 » A recent survey conducted by Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, revealed that virtual desktop delivery interests higher education information technology (IT) professionals looking for ways to optimize the computer lab. Seventy-six percent of 200 higher education IT professionals indicated an interest in adding virtual desktop delivery to their institution’s virtualization profile. The survey, sponsored by Citrix Systems, was administered last month during the annual EDUCAUSE conference held in Orlando, Florida.
While more than half of the Citrix survey respondents already have a server virtualization and provisioning solution in place, desktop delivery appears to have a place in the future of higher education IT.
“There is clearly a strong interest in virtual desktop delivery for colleges and universities,” said David Podwojski, director of government, education and health for Citrix Systems. “Looking ahead to 2009 and beyond, desktop virtualization is poised to play a starring role on the higher education stage.”
The survey also revealed that higher education IT departments recognize virtualization as a solution that can address top concerns about existing computer labs. Respondents indicated that a virtual computer lab could:
- Provide easy delivery of semester-based instructional applications and resources (67 percent);
- Reduce costs by eliminating the need to maintain the physical lab and upgrade equipment (62 percent); and
- Free IT personnel to work on other projects (58 percent).
In addition, Citrix uncovered a clear competitive advantage component to virtualization in higher education. More than 67 percent of survey respondents indicated that a virtualization-enabled reduction in IT costs would make the institution more competitive. Secure student access to instructional tools from any end device, any time and anywhere, came in a close second (65 percent) in terms of competitive advantages.
“We conducted this survey as part of our ongoing commitment to improving industry’s grasp of the challenges faced by today’s higher education IT professionals, and there were some real gems uncovered in this research,” said Podwojski. “We’re looking forward to learning more as we bring Citrix virtualization solutions – end-to-end, from the server to the desktop – to the higher education community.”
About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in Application Delivery Infrastructure. More than 215,000 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 percent of the Fortune 100 companies and 99 percent of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 8,000 partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2007 was $1.4 billion.
For Citrix Investors
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with revenue growth and recognition of revenue, products, their development and distribution, product demand and pipeline, economic and competitive factors, the Company’s key strategic relationships, acquisition and related integration risks as well as other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citrix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.
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