Citrix introduces its virtualization architecture

Everyone in the industry remains ga-ga over server virtualization and with good reasons. According to ESG Research, over half of organizations large and small have already implemented server virtualization and of these users, 46 percent claim that they are running Tier 1 business applications on virtual hosts. The numbers don't lie. Virtualization has moved well beyond industry hyperbole.

Yup, server virtualization is great but it doesn't live in isolation. For server virtualization to work well, it needs to blend with networks, applications, and management tools to create a virtualization architecture. This isn't easy and few vendors understand all of these layers well enough to make things work. As so often happens, CIOs are left to piece together their own solutions. Surely there must be a better way.

Enter Citrix, the company best known for its Presentation Server product. Citrix acquired XenSource last year and promised to deliver virtualization from desktop to data center. This week, Citrix took a giant step in this direction with the introduction of a new virtualization architecture called Citrix Delivery Center.

The beauty of Delivery Center is that it is a one-stop shop combining desktop, server, network, and application virtualization together. Heck, Citrix even includes a whole bunch of other tools for access, identity, and performance management and also introduced a central virtualization management system named Workflow Studio to orchestrate the whole enchilada.

Citrix has plenty of work ahead of it and Delivery Center is no guarantee of success. Nevertheless, the fact that Citrix is approaching virtualization from an architecture basis shows a lot of intelligence and moxie. In effect, Citrix is becoming a virtualization one-stop shop. Large companies seeking the benefits of virtualization while avoiding system integration headaches will certainly appreciate the value in inherent in this model.