Citrix Systems is an American multinational company that provides virtualization of server, application, desktop and networking, (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. Many companies have engineered their entire Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on Citrix over the past decade since it's been the forerunner providing this specialised technology with only a few competitors to compete with; it is still somewhat believed to be an ace in DAAS (VDI) technology. According to a source as of 2018 "Citrix products are claimed to be in use by over 400,000 clients worldwide, including 99% of the Fortune 100, and 98% of the Fortune 500"; working closely with big shots like Amazons AWS, and Microsoft Azure in the cloud platforms.
It means to create a virtual environment for a desktop/ mobile to work on providing virtualization of storage, network, hardware, and server maintaining quality and enabling switch between numerous OS (Windows 7 to Windows 10, Linux). This offers absolute freedom to its users to work effectively, regardless of their location enabling them to be able to access their files, apps, and desktops where they're nonetheless maintaining the safety of the organization — all for a lower, predictable cost as compared to distributed infrastructure.
The following industries are utilizing the benefits of virtualization throughout the world:
Security and regulation: financial, healthcare, government
Elastic workforce mergers and acquisition: short term employee, contractor and partner access
Specific employees: call centers, branch workers, education
Specialized workloads design and engineer: legacy app, software dev test
Amidst the global pandemic, the scalability of the infrastructure of organizations is in stake due to work from home, and hence increased load on the servers and Citrix users aren't disappointed but it's a sure thing that works from home is here to stay and grow over the years. According to a source "Global WAN optimization market to reach $4.88 billion by 2027 registering a CAGR compound annual growth rate of 9.5% from 2020 to 2027".
Whether it is crisis times or day to day business people need more mobile ways to work.
Even if they are not always remote, they need access to their desktops wherever they are, whenever they need it. Citrix because of its mobility, Easy deployability, security, easy access, cost-effectiveness, and the credibility of being one of the oldest companies offering Virtualization infrastructure services to its market makes it a great choice. Citrix is making the news almost every day to attract its audience and is doing continuous effort to foster its customers with every possible update in these tough times. Here is such an excerpt from an IT News "Citrix Systems Extends Remote PC Access Solution to the Cloud" - (2020-05-09).
1) Security
Pros
It provides Quick updates to the central point that protects the desktops from new security threats receiving the latest patches, fixes, and maintenance. Delivered automatically, preventing loss and theft and ensuring strict compliance with the highest regulatory standards for various industries while having the freedom to work from wherever the user wants to since the data is not stored locally.
Cons
Server-side problems like networking or in the worst case a crash can affect multiple users or even departments. For that reason alone, we need redundancy of the central data in case the server is down otherwise the whole business stops and redundancy means more labor, time, and cost.
2) Cost-Effective
Pros
Virtual Desktops drastically reduces the time and cost of desktop management and support for migration, deployment, maintenance, updating, etc. because the organizations have just the central point or server to look after.
Cons
A lot of servers, virtual machines, networking, to be taken care of by people who are being paid heavily since they are highly skilled. Citrix has very advanced and expensive setup and ongoing costs in comparison to its peers which offer an affordable version of a desktop environment or rather an upgrade to the platform as a service (PaaS) such as Microsoft.
3) Remote access and mobility
Pros
Remote working is part of everyday working life now. Virtual Desktops enable access to desktops – with all individual user settings, preferences, files – on any device be it tablets, computers, laptops, mobiles, etc. increasing the productivity considerably and the user can be anywhere globally.
Cons
There's a rise of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service and customers have to make future choices because economically ROI for Desktop-as-a-Service is long term which means you need to think of it as a long term investment to extract profits despite the changing market in terms of technology. Just because of this fact and it is still believed that Citrix aces just the desktop virtualization field and there are other competitors in the market like Microsoft and VMWare which offer a wide range of specialized benefits too.
Stay tuned with Oxtrys for more such interesting articles!