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Citrix Debuts New Desktop Appliance Partner Program
At the Citrix Synergy event in Houston, the company announced a new Desktop Appliance Partner Program. Appliances and thin clients are important elements in the emerging value chain for hosted desktop virtualization solutions both in terms of end user expectations for performance and ease of installation.
The announcement follows closely on the heels of a similar announcement from VMware aimed at strengthening partnerships with its own thin client suppliers.
Citrix worked with an array of hardware and software vendors to nail down specifications and testing procedures to enhance the performance of XenDesktop. The company has developed two rating levels, Standard and Plus, with the latter associated with higher performance features such as multimedia and support for peripheral devices.
Two key partner relationships highlighted by Citrix include Wyse and HP. Last month Wyse announced the Viance family, an appliance portfolio optimized for XenDesktop. Viance has achieved the Plus level of Citrix certification.
In addition, HP and Citrix have partnered on another Plus rated appliance, the HP Compaq t5730 Thin Client. Other partners enrolled in the program include Computer Lab International, Devon IT, Chip PC, and Igel.
About the Author
Tom Valovic is a freelance technology writer.