News
Citrix Kills Off VDI-in-a-Box
The all-in-one appliance was aimed at SMBs needing a simple virtual desktop infrastructure solution.
When Citrix Systems Inc. held its latest earnings call, it also announced that 900 employees and contractors would be laid off. Somewhat lost amidst that bad news was that Citrix is also getting rid of a product it once pinned high hopes on: VDI-in-a-Box.
Mark Templeton, Citrix CEO and president, said during the call that VDI-in-a-Box was riding into the sunset. "We're going to end-of-sale that product and it will be replaced by a simpler and more price-competitive version for VDI that we have coming." He didn't specify what product would replace it.
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More Wood, Fewer Arrows'
The reason for the decision, Templeton said, was to pare down its offerings, including those that didn't sell well. "We're looking to have fewer brands, where we get more wood behind fewer arrows; and that means turning some products into features and the elimination of some, especially smaller volume, products," he said.
Citrix added VDI-in-a-Box to its lineup in May 2011, when it acquired Kaviza. VDI-in-a-Box was a standalone appliance aimed at the small to midsize business (SMB) market. Citrix positioned it at that time as a complement to its much more comprehensive XenDesktop virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) suite. VDI-in-a-Box was an all-in-one solution for companies whose needs -- and budget -- were more modest.
VDI-in-a-Box isn't the only virtualization product Citrix is burying. AppDNA, which facilitates conversion of Windows apps from physical to virtual, is another victim. Templeton said that AppDNA would be absorbed into future versions of XenApp and XenDesktop.
Although Citrix revenues were up 8 percent for 2014, net income dropped substantially. Citrix anticipates the layoffs to save the company between $90 million and $100 million.
About the Author
Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.