Microsoft Relationship
The Citrix and Microsoft relationship is based upon a 20-year alliance, which began in 1989 when Citrix licensed the OS/2 source code.
Citrix obtained a source code license to Microsoft's Windows NT 3.51. In 1995, Citrix shipped a multiuser version of Windows NT with remote access, known as WinFrame. This product was a unique offering, targeting the needs of large enterprises.
During the development of WinFrame for Windows NT 4, Microsoft decided that it did not want to license Windows NT 4 source code to Citrix. Not only that, Microsoft threatened to build its own version of WinFrame. Citrix and Microsoft entered negotiations about how best to resolve this dilemma. After negotiations, Microsoft agreed to license Citrix technology for Windows NT Server 4.0, resulting in Windows Terminal Server Edition. Citrix agreed not to ship a competing product but retained the right to sell an extension to Microsoft's products, initially under the name MetaFrame. This relationship continued into the Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 eras, with Citrix offering Metaframe XP and Presentation Server. On February 11, 2008, Citrix changed the name of its Presentation Server product line to XenApp.
The core technology that Microsoft did not buy was the ICA protocol. Microsoft derived the work for RDP (T.share) protocol from NetMeeting, which originally derived from a deal with PictureTel (now known as Polycom).
In January 2008, Citrix announced an expanded alliance with Microsoft to deliver a set of virtualization solutions to address the desktop and server virtualization markets to ensure broad interoperability between their technologies.
In February 2009, Citrix extended its collaboration with Microsoft in the server virtualization market with “Project Encore”. This was heralded by a new product, Citrix Essentials, that offers advanced management for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Joint marketing, training and channel activities were conducted with Microsoft.
In July 2009, Citrix and Microsoft announced joint plans to simplify desktop computing by extending their desktop virtualization partnership.
These plans included:
- Technology integration so enterprise IT organisations can manage both distributed and centrally hosted applications using Citrix XenApp and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
- Extension of XenApp support for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) to enable self-service delivery of applications on any device using Citrix Receiver and Citrix Dazzle
Read more about this topic: Citrix Systems
Famous quotes containing the word relationship:
“There is a relationship between cartooning and people like Miró and Picasso which may not be understood by the cartoonist, but it definitely is related even in the early Disney.”
—Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923)