Experience. Choice. Security. Citrix Cloud. Those of you who know and love Citrix know that Citrix Cloud Services are our core strategy, and delivering that choice through hybrid cloud and multi cloud partnerships is what Citrix Strategic Alliances is all about. A key component in enabling your Hybrid Cloud game plan is the role of hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). Citrix Cloud XenApp Service, XenDesktop Service and HCI are all about simplicity, and have eliminated what has historically been multiple layers of complexity behind VDI solutions.
Citrix Cloud eliminates complexity by moving the Citrix control plane to the cloud: Citrix becomes responsible for managing and updating the components. HCI eliminates complexity by taking three layers of infrastructure management and control down to one. Now, customers no longer need a team of specialized resources on staff to virtualize their desktops and apps. In fact, this can now be done by IT generalists, freeing up resources to work on more important IT initiatives like understanding user and application requirements.
Previously Citrix announced that we were working with our platform alliance partners to take the simplicity of Citrix Cloud and HCI a step further. We announced a new partner program that could potentially reduce the complexity of deploying hybrid cloud workspace to as little as a few clicks. We called the program the Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance program, and from that point on, our alliance platform partners began working on the automation and integration in Citrix Cloud that could make this possible.
Fast forward. Together with our strategic alliance partner, Nutanix, we announced the availability of the first verified Citrix Ready tested and validated workspace appliance in the market: Nutanix InstantOn for Citrix Cloud. Immediately, customers began taking advantage of the fact that they could connect to Citrix Cloud with a few clicks and within minutes —creating a hybrid cloud for Citrix Workspaces.
Now as we enter into Synergy 2018, Nutanix has been joined by its OEM partners Lenovo and Dell EMC. Each partner is introducing a Citrix Ready tested and validated workspace appliance on their respective HCI platforms, Lenovo HX and Dell XC Core; both based on Nutanix software.
Also at Citrix Synergy 2018, two other Citrix strategic alliance partners, HPE and Cisco, are both getting ready to announce availability of their appliances and their entry into the Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliances Program.
HPE will leverage its HPE SimpliVity HCI platform to deliver Citrix Cloud connectivity on the proven HPE 380 infrastructure. During Citrix Synergy, HPE SimpliVity also announced its multi-hypervisor strategy with the addition of Hyper-V support along with upcoming availability to support direct integration to Citrix Cloud. Join us next month at HPE Discover, where Citrix is a sponsor, and general availability of HPE’s Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance solution is expected to be announced.
Our partnership with Cisco HyperFlex goes back to its inception when Cisco UCS partnered with SpringPath to deliver the Cisco HyperFlex solution. That partnership has continued, resulting in joint deployments at customers like the Bellevue Group. Cisco is showcasing Citrix solutions at Citrix Synergy; we are looking forward to Cisco Live 2018 where Cisco is set to unveil its solution availability.
In addition, our partnership with software defined storage provider StorMagic is resulting in the unveiling of general availability of its edge appliance solution as part of the Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance Program. In collaboration with Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000s) with UCS E-Series blade servers, in a 2U footprint, this combined solution delivers secure enterprise-grade networking, compute and storage tuned for the edge. It is uniquely suited for remote or branch sites that require virtualized user desktops and/or remote access management capabilities to run on premise instead of in a corporate datacenter.
These solutions from our Alliance platform partners showcase how industry-leading HCI vendors are investing in the Citrix Cloud strategy. These Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance solutions give our customers a fully-integrated, fully-supported solution that delivers simplicity, scalability, and security, with cost saving potential – from cloud service to on-premises infrastructure.
Customers attending Citrix Synergy 2018 will be able to meet these partners at the Synergy Solutions Expo and have the ability to start using these solutions almost immediately, as they will all be available by or shortly following Synergy. Come see for yourself how these Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance solutions from our strategic alliance partners make hybrid cloud for Citrix Workspaces, simple, fast and secure.
