Citrix Summit 2016 Wrap-Up – Focus, Focus, Focus!

Citrix Summit 2016 Las Vegas just wrapped up and we left the show invigorated and ready for 2016. For those of you that don’t know, Citrix’s partner focused show is much like Citrix Synergy with the exception of its size and the fact that it is partner and sales enablement centric vs. targeted at end-user organizations.

Opening night. Heavy booth traffic and interest in Layering Micro Isolation. 

We introduced an industry-first, Micro Isolation in our FlexApp Layering solution. The feedback from partners and Citrix staff was great. The technology is available now and you can trial it with a fully functional download.

This Citrix Summit came at an interesting time because Citrix is undergoing change, some of it likely forced by Elliott, one of their investor groups, but over the last year change was already in motion at Citrix. Of course change is never easy but companies need to do it to continue to thrive.

Focus on Core Products
Citrix leadership did not have to use the word “Focus” in their keynotes and meetings because it was clear in their messaging. All announcements and communication centered on the core Citrix desktop products. Citrix announced plans in public blogs and in the keynote that there will be not one but two releases of Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop this quarter. Both releases are chock full of new features. Version 7.7 is shipping now and v7.8 is planned to follow by the end of the quarter.

Focus on Partners
Citrix brought back their Citrix Summit conference two years ago in Orlando evidently as part of a renewed effort to refocus on partners. It think it was a brilliant move because I had heard first-hand from partners in recent years that Citrix seemed to be devaluing its partnership community. This change is one of many that I’ve seen Citrix make since that time to reinvest in partner/channel relations. I think this move is paying off as I am hearing more and more positive news from partners these days. 

It’s interesting to note that Citrix’s main desktop competitor in the market has done the exact opposite by folding their Partner conference into their end-user conference.

Enterprise Proven UEM, Layering, and Monitoring for Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop. 

Focus on Best of Breed Solutions
Citrix continues to lead the virtual desktop market with innovation in both XenApp and XenDesktop. While Citrix has renewed focus on their core desktop offerings, they are also reinforcing that there is a powerful Citrix Ready community of independent software and hardware vendors to fully meet the changing needs of customers. Of course Citrix offers basic functionality for profile management, monitoring, and soon, application layering. However, they acknowledge very clearly that there are leading vendors that fully meet enterprise needs in the market with specialty products that go beyond baseline functionality. This was evidenced in the day two keynote when Liquidware Labs got a shout-out as one such vendor with our innovative Application Layering.

We’re proud to be a Citrix Ready Premier partner. The focused conference was the perfect spotlight to introduce our innovative Micro Isolation in our FlexApp Layering solution. The big winner in all of this focus is joint customers – as Citrix focuses on the best virtual desktop solution in the industry and Liquidware Labs continues to focus on delivering the best User Environment Management, Application Layering, and Monitoring in the market.

Parting Shot: Nissho Electronics, Liquidware Labs’ Japan based distributor and Japan Partners.