Citrix Rate Hike Coming
Citrix, following in VMware's wake, announced a 10 percent price hike for many non-U.S. places, according to this
blog entry. Now, since I took VMware
to task for its price increase, it's completely fair to do the same with Citrix.
The situations aren't exactly the same, since the chief complaint about VMware is the price of its products (which have decreased recently with the new giveaway of its lightweight hypervisor, ESXi.) Citrix, until very recently, wasn't a player in the virtualization space, so there hasn't been a lot of time to complain.
I'm sure Citrix will use the same type of rationalization VMware did for raising its prices -- that it's merely the predictable reaction to fluctuating global currencies. As VMware's Mike DiPetrillo explained in a comment under my VMware posting,
Due to the fluctuation of local currencies and the fact that VMware like most global software companies prices in local currency to make the product easier to buy demands periodic price adjustments. You can see this happen at other software companies (including Microsoft and Citrix) on a periodic basis. You even see this in consumer goods. It's basic economics.
My question: Is it basic economics? If you're in Germany or Spain or Japan, do you see it as perfectly acceptable to have a 10 percent rate hike in your virtualization software? Note that I'm not asking this sarcastically, but genuinely interested -- does a rate hike make you start looking for alternatives, or is it just a regular part of your business, that doesn't affect your buying?
Others who posted under the same blog entry differed with DiPetrillo, such as this employee from a "Top 2 tech company":
Our global clients, and Fortune 50, from my involvement, are no longer going to pay just because they have to. When there is only one game in town you pay what is charged. When there are several, you choose which makes the most sense on multiple levels.
I urge you, if you're in this boat (affected by a price hike from a vendor, whether it's VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, and so on), to either respond here in the comments section or reply to me personally.
Posted by Keith Ward on 08/11/2008 at 12:48 PM