Post to Twitter
It's no wonder that the recent announcement of Citrix XenDesktop 4 is the hot buzz around town. Citrix XenDesktop 4 delivers optimized delivery for every user, making it the best way to manage applications and the best user experience. It is the first-ever solution to provide all the desktop and application delivery technologies needed to bring desktop virtualization to every user.
So now that you've heard the news, it's time to get geared up with partner Sales Tools designed especially for Citrix XenDesktop 4. This includes a whitepaper about the future of desktop virtualization, a whiteboard, technical overview presentation, proof of concept quick demo kit, a product reference card, and a whole lot more.
Also, in store for you is a FREE Citrix XenDesktop 4 training offer, where you can gain an overview of the Citrix XenDesktop 4 technology in less than an hour! In this training course, you'll learn about key product features, editions, strengths, and how XenDesktop addresses traditional desktop management challenges. Also covered are the key aspects of FlexCast delivery, architectural diagrams, and the steps to move to desktop virtualization.
For added insight, get the complete 411 at the Citrix "Secrets, Lies and VDI" event being held tomorrow, Oct 13 just for Citrix partners. This is not-to-miss event that will unravel the myths and uncover the truth about VDI to give you a clear, strategic view of desktop virtualization today. You'll get a complete understanding of what desktop virtualization really means. Some of the event features include a Keynote Address and sessions, as well as Ask the Expert Q&A. Registration is still going on - don't miss out!
Okay, now you have it - complete sales tools, free training, and a super, hot event!
Virtualization - it's a Citrix world now!
Twitter continues to gain popularity and is being used by companies to further engage via B2B and B2C. Its format is a free microbolg where real-time messages are distributed via SMS and the Internet to your computer or mobile phone.
As described by Twitter, this is "a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"
Citrix has a Twitter account specifically for partners where we let you know about program news, product releases, upcoming events, education offerings, general announcements, and much more. You can find us on Twitter at CitrixPartners and read our tweets (short messages no more than 140 characters). Many of our tweets link to a blog where you can read more detail and provide comments back to the author of the blog. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed of CitrixPartner tweets - just look for the RSS icon when you're on our Twitter page.
I came across some interesting resources about Twitter and have made them available to Citrix partners via My Citrix but because I think the info is helpful in general, I thought I'd include these findings here too. If you would like to share any other information about Twitter, just send a comment back with any links or feedback on how you are using Twitter.
Helpful resources about Twitter:
Twitter in Plain English - Watch this video on YouTube for a to-the-point explanation of Twitter.
Twitter FAQs - Learn about retweets, blocking a follower, editing a tweet, tweet chat, hashtag, and more.
Shorten URLs - Learn about free services to shorten your URL.
10 Ways for Bloggers to Use Twitter - Read Susan Gunelius's article posted on About.com
TwitterFinder - Search for Twitter accounts by profession, hobby, music, travel, and other categories.
Customers looking to take their first steps into virtualization or those looking to grow their existing application, desktop, or server virtualization environments can enjoy a 40% savings when adding Citrix Essentials for XenServer Platinum Edition.
Any order for 100 or more Citrix XenApp or Citrix XenDesktop licenses, including upgrade licenses, will be eligible to receive the discount on an unlimited number of Essentials for XenServer Platinum licenses. By adding Citrix Essentials for XenServer Platinum, organizations can add improved manageability, automation, and lifecycle management to transform their datacenters into delivery centers.
Testing by Tolly shows that Citrix XenServer, which includes specific optimizations for XenApp highlights the performance improvements that customers can obtain when choosing XenServer over a VMware Virtual Infrastructure in their XenApp Virtual Server farms. In these tests, Citrix XenServer 5 outperformed VMware ESX 3.5u3 by supporting 41% more concurrent users.
The pricing promotion for Citrix Essentials for XenServer is for a limited time. You can read about the promotion terms and download the FAQ and Rules from My Citrix. (Login required)
Hooray! There's a now a feed especially for partners. This means you can receive partner related information as soon as it's published. Sure you'll still have Citrix Partner News, our monthly e-newsletter, but in addition to it, the latest news will come to you automatically. It's "Really Simple Syndication," or in other words RSS that makes staying current with Citrix happenings a snap.
You can subscribe to Citrix feeds wherever you see the RSS icon on citrix.com. There are three other types of feeds besides 'Partner Network' that you can subscribe to, but only one of them (you know the one) is all you.
- Partner Network
- News
- Events
- Communities
If you'd like more details about RSS, there's a great RSS video on YouTube or you can read ProBlogger's thorough RSS explanation as well as Paul Stamatio's blog that covers how to get started with RSS. For the ladies, I came across a great description in a blog entitled, "How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way."
Citrix partners can also download a PPT that contains screenshots of the subscription process and Google reader. The PPT is available on My Citrix within the 'Communications' section along with the resoures mentioned in this blog.
I'm sure you'll soon see why RSS is the way to go and hopefully you'll jump right in and subscribe to the Citrix Partner Network today.
I've recently began blogging on Citrix Blog and I thought that rather than write this time about where something just got posted in My Citrix as I generally do, I'd instead share some info related to blogging that I found interesting and hopefully, you will too.
Here are four articles, all by different authors posted online this year. I think you will get a solid look at what is being said about blogging from this range of topics and in turn, will become inspired to blog on your own or simply comment on the blogs you're reading - (after you've read mine of course) and let the authors know what you think. We're writing to you, for you, and would really like to hear from you.
Hew! Okay, now here's my blog or rather my blog about other people's blogs to show you why you should be blogging:
Who's Blogging - According to this blog, 61(12.2%) of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of 04/17/09. Read samplings of their blogs and check out links to Fortune 500 business blog reviews. (April 17, 2009)
10 Great Strategic Benefits of Blogging - Gary Bourgeault describes the overall business benefits that include search engine marketing, competitive differentiation, reputation management, and low cost. Read about all 10 reasons. (April 28, 2009)
Why Blogs Matter - Shannon Paul notes that journalists use blogs as a key source for their reports but that they are not the only ones searching for company information - everyone else is too and blogs are picked up by search engines. (January 24, 2009)
How to Find Your Blogging Mojo - Darren Rowseprovides insight into how to improve your writing and offers links to additional resource material (July 30, 2009)
In early April of this year, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, confirmed a reach of over 200 million active users. That's a pretty staggering stat. Not knowing the range of Citrix partners on Facebook, I'm gambling that most of you have an account - actually this isn't much of a gamble considering the renowned popularity.
Anyway, whether you're on it or thinking about it, I came across some tips on Hongkiat.com, a blog site for tech users, designers, and bloggers that offers 20 Facebook tips and tricks you might not know about.
Oh, one more thing, did you know that Citrix Systems is on Facebook? Yup. Check it out.
20 Facebook Tips
- How to place Facebook chat on Firefox sidebar
- How to download Facebook photo albums
- How to share Flickr photos to Facebook
- How to update Facebook without using Facebook
- How to schedule Facebook messages
- How to "friend' someone on Facebook and hide it from your status updates
- How to create a photo collage using pictures of your facebook friends
- How to know when Facebook friends secretly delete or block you
- How to display selected pictures only on your Facebook profile page
- How to remove Facebook advertisements
- How to Sync photos of Facebook friends with contacts in Microsoft Outlook
- How to display Facebook statuses on Wordpress blog
- How to post your blog posts to your Facebook wall automatically
- How to Access Facebook chat on Desktop
- How to create quiz on Facebook easily
- How to hide your online status on Facebook chat from select contacts
- How to get Facebook updates on email
- How to update Facebook status from Firefox
- Ho to get Facebook on your Desktop
- How to delete, cancel, and terminate Facebook account and profile
Knowing which certification requirements are needed helps partners know exactly what they need to do to receive full program benefits. Plus, partner's certifications are listed on Partner Locator, a search tool used by customers seeking partners to fulfill their solution needs. With that said, if you haven't got your certification groove on, now's the time to get certilicious with two recently launched tools via My Citrix.
Partner Certification Manager and My Certification Manager have just been rolled out and still hot off the press. Both can be found within the Toolbox area of My Citrix and are available in your preferred language: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Once in the Toolbox, you'll see an Overview page that describes how to navigate through the respective tool. Here, you'll read about and see screenshots of each tab that make up the tool. To the right of your screen, you can down load resource materials that include a training video, user guide, and quick reference guide. Please note that you must log into My Citrix in order to gain access to these tools.
To get a jump on both tools, here's a glance of what they offer.
Partner Certification Manager - 5 tabs
Training Dashboard (only visible by CSAs)
- View summary certification reports, compliance details, and product authorization status
Contacts
- View all contacts associated with your company so you can identify who has/hasn't linked their Citrix training to your company and then initiate a request to a contact to link their training to your company
Certification Details
- View key Citrix certifications held by people at your company
Product Authorization (only visibile by CSAs)
- View your status on which products you're certified to sell so you can be sure that you're receiving full program benefits
Compliance (only visible by CSAs)
- View your company's training compliance details in order to ensure that training requirements are being met so you can retain or upgrade your program membership level (Silver, Gold, and Platinum)
My Certification Manager - 3 tabs
My Information
- Link your Citrix related training from Citrix Certification Manager to your My Citrix account
My Certifications
- View those certifications you've earned including the date they were achieved, the status of each, and your exam history
My Exam
- View those exams that you have passed
Should you have questions or any issues regarding Partner Certification Manager, contact your local Channel Operations teamand for My Certification Manager, send an email to training@citrix.com
Shortly after joining Citrix, I was exposed to the Certified Citrix Sales Professional (CCSP) curriculum and well, I think the content really hit home runs. Being a newbie in the technology arena and still learning about application delivery products, I found the courses to be insightful and the messaging relative to real-world sales situations. The curriculum was spot on and delivered a clear understanding of the product's features, benefits, etc. Overall, I thought the CCSP material was really good stuff.
Now that CCSP 2009 is available, I want to make mention of what the tracks are and where you can find course descriptions, among other things, in My Citrix. Also, I want to let you know that CCSP 2009 will help you integrate the Citrix Key Plays into your sales strategy and offers interactive Flash movies illustrating the Citrix Delivery Center story.
CCSP 2009 Certification Tracks
- CCSP 2009 for Desktop Virtualization
- CCSP 2009 for Application Virtualization
- CCSP 2009 for Server Virtualization
- CCSP 2009 for Application Networking
Once you complete all four certification tracks, you'll earn the designation of CCSP 2009 for Application Delivery. Partners who currently hold a CCSP 2007 or CCSP 2008 should upgrade to the CCSP 2009 in order to continue taking advantage of partner benefits.
Some of your CCSP takeaways designed to support your sales goals include learning how to address customer needs, overcome major sales objections, and leverage best practices. For more ccomprehensive partner training and certification information, please refer to the 'Partner Education' section in My Citrix or visit www.citrix.com/partnertraining. (My Citrix login required)
Good luck!
P.S. You can also take the CCSP 2009 curriculum offline - for details check out My Citrix.
It's being described as "powerful" and even "tremendous."
Partners are raving about it. They've experienced it for themselves. They are witnesses to what it can do - the value, the benefit, the profit.
"What is it and where can I get it?" you ask yourself.
It's the Citrix Key Play Marketing Kits of course! And you can find them in the Marketing Tools section of My Citrix.
Try it. Execute on it. Like magic, these Key Play Kits will transform your marketing department into a marketing powerhouse. Smooth, easy, flexible, manageable - kits designed for immediate action. Whether your marketing team is comprised of 2 or 22 or your budget is busting with dollars or just busted, you'll marvel at what you accomplish.
It's no fairy dust. It's real. We even have partners on tape talking about what the Key Play Marketing Kits have done for them. See their excitement. Listen to their testimonials. Watch this video and other videos from Citrix TV and be amazed.
If you're already using the Key Play Marketing Kits, share your success and comment back to this blog. Let us know how these kits are helping you fine tune your go-to-market strategies and improve your business.
Growing up in Miami,Florida, I was naturally exposed to fishing. Although I was just a young girl, I can recall my father placing bait on a hook (I was too squeamish to do this myself) just before I casted a line with my rod, anxiously waiting for a bite. I wondered where the fish hung out, which was the best spot to find them, and if the water would be clear enough for me to see the bottom, where hopefully there would be interesting rocks, vegetation, and cool, colorful fish.
Now at Citrix, I've had the opportunity to work behind the scenes on our partner web portal, My Citrix. Coming on board, there was a lot to do in the way of reorganizing the pages and making the left-hand navigation more clear. It seemed that the build consisted of a long string of stand-alone pages that pretty much started with a different letter, one for each in the alphabet. We weren't sure who was seeing what exactly and more importantly perhaps, who was missing what because they couldn't see some pages.
So partners were fishing for content amidst a very wide-spread seaofweb pages and links, unsure where the best watering hole really was for what they were hoping to catch. Action was needed. The fishermen, I mean partners, needed a more streamlined My Citrix. With the help of our Geo channel managers, other folks in the worldwide channel department, who fortunate for me, reside in Fort Lauderdale where I am, and key individuals from other business units that have offerings for partners, there are now 7 main categories that make up My Citrix content outside of the Toolbox.
7 Categories (left nav links)
- Product Resources
- Programs and Benefits
- Partner Education
- Marketing Tools
- Sales Tools
- Technology Tools
- Communications
Think of these categories as the Seven Seas. Whether you're casting nets, trolling, or spear fishing, you can find content and resource material throughout My Citrix by first determining which ocean is most likely to have what it is you're looking for. Then once you make sail, navigate the rest of the pages by looking at the "Inside" box - this is your porthole to that section's build.
So plot your course, whether by channel markers, the North Star, or your business plan, and get ready to sale the 7 categories, where in My Citrix, you'll find product updates of particular interest, a bountiful landscape rich with Key Play marketing kits, and your picking of resource material to serve as a very tasty catch of the day.