Last week, when we launched Access Gateway VPX and Branch Repeater VPX, I blogged about the feedback customers gave us. In this blog, I want to discuss the feedback from channel partners from a few focus groups and meetings over the past few quarters.

Traditionally, vendors talk about competitive dynamics when discussing customers. That is normal because new product launches often don't fundamentally change partners' practices of or decisions about any given vendor. Such product launches don't really sway the partners to favor one product over others or switch from one vendor to another.

Now that seems to be changing. Rather than seeking just industry-leading technologies that address customers' problems, channel partners are seeking solutions that will help transform their sales and services productivity and profitability. With physical appliances, partners often faced the following challenges:

1. How many NFR (not-for-resale) units of physical appliances should a partner purchase? This is the classic dilemma a partner faces when forecasting their sales and POC (proof-of-concept) pipeline. Purchase too many physical NFR units and they are faced with the possibility of idling - and depreciating - NFR units after the spike in sales or POC pipeline gives way to normal baseline sales trends. Purchase too few physical NFR units and they are faced with the possibility of missed sales opportunities, especially considering that any order of physical NFR units will at best take a few days -  weeks if you are internationally located - to ship. Either way, partners are forced to take on additional risks - CAPEX budget or lost revenues - something they would like to take out of their productivity and profitability equation.
2. What should a partner do if the customer asks them to leave behind the POC equipment for a few more days so they can kick the tires and play around with the POC? This is another dilemma a partner faces: damned they are if they oblige the customer because that ties up their limited equipment, which can't be used in other sales or POCs; damned they are if they don't oblige the customer because that is not the brightest approach to building customer relationship, satisfaction and loyalty.
3. Should a partner really have to stock each of their vendor's physical NFR units? When a partner practices selling WAN optimization or secure access SSL VPNs from multiple vendors, they often would like to be able to use the same server hardware for demonstrating any vendor's WAN optimization or SSL VPN solution. Why? Because using standardized commodity server hardware truly transforms the cost-benefit-risk equation, and in doing so their productivity and profitability.This is where virtual appliances come in to the picture. A partner forecasts their baseline POC pipeline and budgets for physical NFR units to meet part or whole of the baseline demand. For any spikes or variability in demand, the partner leverages virtual appliances to build flexibility and agility in their POC delivery model - all without adding risk to their business or operational model. No more paying for NFR units and then writing them off as depreciation later. 

Virtual appliances do change the operating model for partners by allowing them to leverage commodity server hardware for running any network virtual appliance from any vendor.

With virtual appliances, partners now can have customers spare their server hardware, deploy virtual appliances on that server hardware for their POCs, and let the customers play with the POCs as long as they want; all while the partner moves on to their next sale and POC!

After listening to partners feedback, we are offering free NFR instances of Access Gateway VPX and Branch Repeater VPX to our channel partners. This goes a long way to help partners realize the efficiencies and profitability discussed above.

If you are a partner, let us know how you are planning to leverage virtual appliances to transform your business and operating model.

Finally, don't mistake 'virtualized platforms' with 'virtual appliances'; not all so-called 'virtual appliances' are created equal; more on that in my next blog!

Sai Allavarpu

Earlier today (March 1st, 2010), we announced the launch of Branch Repeater VPXand Access Gateway VPX. Back in the spring of 2009, at Synergy, Citrix announced the vision and strategy to virtualize our entire application networking portfolio. We followed up on that promise by delivering NetScaler VPX in September 2009, and now by delivering software virtual appliances for our networking appliances, Branch Repeater and Access Gateway.

Since the spring of 2009, I met with many customers, analysts and partners and saw a recurring theme emerging from those meetings. Many customers have already seen the benefits of virtualization in the data center, especially for servers. Having extended those benefits to desktops by pursuing desktop virtualization, they are now looking for ways to make the delivery network and branch infrastructure simple, flexible, agile and cost-effective. Check out the Access Gateway VPX demo on CitrixTV at http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/1706 or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOVj3-xT4S8.

Initial feedback from customers indicates that VPX offers a great opportunity to tackle the cost, complexity and service delays in branch offices. Consider this: with hardware appliances, enterprises are required to procure hardware appliances, wait a few days for the delivery and ship them to hundreds of branch offices or sites. It gets worse when there are branch offices without skilled or any IT staff; IT has to fly in staff to such sites to deploy WAN optimization services. Together all these factors contribute to costly and time-consuming branch set up. VPX transforms the entire branch set up process, not to mention the management of WAN optimization in the branch. No more appliance ordering and procurement, shipment to branch offices, flying in IT staff to branches. One could even remotely distribute, configure and deploy Branch Repeater VPX on existing servers in the branch, with skilled IT staff never setting a foot in that branch!

Another example was that of recent snowstorms or natural disasters, when many workers work from home and overwhelm SSL VPN licenses or capacity. This is precisely when ordering or shipping additional hardware appliances is not going to be effective. Access Gateway VPX can help with such situations by dynamically provisioning additional virtual appliances on existing servers to meet the surge in remote user demand.

While we often tend to focus on the benefits of IT simplicity and agility, there is another customer benefit that often doesn't get as much attention. The procurement and supply chain groups think VPX enables them to consolidate hardware vendors, benefit from volume discounts and streamline supply chain and procurement processes. Many customers need to address the availability of parts and supplies in the remotest of the branch offices on any continent. Who is more likely to have a sales or parts office in such locations? Server vendors such as HP or Dell, or pure-play SSL VPN or WAN optimization vendors?

Do you share similar experiences and opportunities? What other use cases and opportunities do you see for VPX in your environment?

Later, in a follow-on blog, I will share the insights that some of the partners shared - something that makes me truly believe that VPX will transform channel productivity and profitability, spurring partners to pause and think about vendor alignments.

You will also see a series of blogs from the Branch Repeater and Access Gateway teams 

Stay tuned, for these are the exciting times in the world of convergence of virtualization and networking.

Cheers!
Sai Allavarpu

Recently, I have heard many talk about how to deliver better application experience over WAN to branch users with flat or shrinking IT budgets?

Is delivering a better IT experience to branch or mobile users truly "priceless"? Or do you really need to demonstrate ROI?

It usually takes a lot longer than a year for something to become a 'cliche'. But the current global economic recession has created one of the quickest 'cliches' - 'Flat is the new Growth!' - flat revenues, and flat IT budgets alike.

Faced with flat or shrinking IT budgets, many organizations are clearly and rigorously prioritizing the highest ROI projects, focusing on doing more with less. Increasingly, the following lexicon has taken on a new level of significance and has become part of the IT budgeting process - time-to-ROI, payback time, hard or direct ROI, soft or indirect ROI and so on.

WAN Optimization is one of the very few technologies where IT spend is actually growing while spend on many other technologies is shrinking. In earlier blogs, I blogged about how good the user experience can be with the right WAN optimization solution. But if you are an IT decision maker, you are looking for hard dollar ROI to justify those investments.

We recently published a web-based ROI calculator, designed to show our customers the great savings opportunities available with Citrix Branch Repeater for XenApp and XenDesktop customers. Why don't you try out the calculator and let us know your feedback? We are looking to updating this tool soon based on your feedback.

You may cut and paste the URL in your browser: http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/feature.asp?contentID=1858204.

I look forward to your comments or feedback.

Happy ROI!,

Sai

Mac users out there have long been asking for and waiting for a rich and secure remote access experience with Access Gateway solutions. Now the wait is over. Mac users can now download the Access Gateway plug-in for Mac from MyCitrix.

Access Gateway team has made available Mac OX X plug-in for Access Gateway 4.6 Standard Edition and Access Gateway 9.1 Enterprise Edition:

- The user experience of the plug-in conforms to the native Mac experience, providing rich user experience.

- Mac users can securely connect to their remote applications, leveraging pre- and post-authentication endpoint scans to confirm to their corporate security policies. For stronger security, when the remote Mac user logs off,  the plug-in also destroys any session data (cache, cookies, etc) on the client.

- With globalization features, the plug-in brings this new experience to English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese users.

If you are a Mac user, I encourage you to go to the downloads section on MyCitrix and select Citrix Access Gateway from the drop-down menu of 'Search Downloads by Product", then find "Access Gateway Plug-in for Mac OS X, Version 1.0.2.23" under the Clients section.

If you are using this new plug-in, please share your experience with me and what you would like to see next.

Sai

What if you could deliver online (published) apps through XenApp 6 times faster to your branch office workers? Or increase XenApp ICA print throughput by 38 times?

Well, now you can accelerate ICA with Branch Repeater and XenApp. Find out the benefits for yourselves by downloading Turbocharge applications to your branch offices CTX122321 whitepaper. 
Please share with us your experiences, results and thoughts.

Sai

Other relevant blogs: http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/saia/

Are you a XenApp customer or partner wondering how to further accelerate the delivery of XenApp to branch office workers? And yet not upgrade your WAN bandwidth? And save a ton on OPEX for WAN services? Well, you can now check out the success story about how Neogen used Branch Repeater to:

• Accelerate XenApp ICA performance by 400 percent at branch offices
• Reduce IT help desk calls by 15 percent
• Raise throughput on existing bandwidth by six times
• Achieve 35 percent savings in operational expenses for WAN services

Happy accelerating!

Sai

Ever got frustrated with how long it takes to email a large report or presentation after incorporating your manager's feedback? Or found yourself in a plane wishing the email downloaded faster when the flight attendant asks you to turn off your 3G-equipped laptop? Or wished for a solution that could deliver email 50 times faster?

Did you know our WAN optimization solution, Citrix Branch Repeater, delivers superior user experience and application performance not only for branch office users but also for remote and teleworkers?

No one feels the need for speed more than a remote user or a teleworker with a low-bandwidth or a high- latency network connection. These users typically use an SSL VPN, such as Citrix Access Gateway, to connect to their corporate network and access email, intranet portals, other applications and data. When your IT augments secure remote access (Access Gateway) infrastructure with Branch Repeater, you can benefit from both secure and accelerated remote access.

Well, now we have two reports that demonstrate ways to use Branch Repeater to augment your Access Gateway infrastructure and the resulting benefits of accelerating secure remote access.

You can download the Turbocharge Access Gateway Performance Report - CTX121034 from the Citrix Knowledge Center. The report explores the benefits of using Access Gateway and Repeater plug-ins for Citrix Receiver together:
• 50x faster Microsoft Outlook and Exchange (MAPI) workflows
• 50x faster Microsoft SharePoint (HTTP) workflows
• 30x faster Windows File Shares (CIFS) workflows

I think you will want to try out the benefits of turbocharged remote access. Check out the Turbocharge Access Gateway Deployment Guide and Reference Architecture - CTX121035 if you want to conduct a POC (proof of concept) or a demo to convince your IT or other decision makers. You will be your end-users hero for providing them with an accelerated yet secure remote access.

Earlier this week, we launched version 1.0.2 of the Citrix Receiver for iPhone. Citrix Access Gateway expands support for Receiver to connect to Access Gateway Enterprise Edition (versions 8.1.57 / 9.0.69 / 9.1.95) in addition to the Access Gateway Standard Edition that was already available. With this release, Access Gateway further enhances mobility by offering secure mobile access on iPhone for the Enterprise Edition.

Citrix Receiver is our lightweight software client that makes accessing virtual applications and desktops on any device simple and easy. It brings together multiple application delivery clients in one single client - all updated automatically, while greatly simplifying client distribution and updates for the IT administrators.

If you are an iPhone user, you will find this latest release very useful. The app is now available to the general public via AppStore on your iPhone or iPod Touch. More importantly, as a corporate user, you will find Doc Finder a 'must-have' for your iPhone. Part of Citrix Receiver, Doc Finder provides fast, one-click access to important documents stored on the corporate network. You can even join a webinar from anywhere - straight from your iPhone. Since these documents are stored in the datacenter and delivered over a secure encrypted link, data and applications always remain completely secure.

Best,

Sai

http://twitter.com/SaiAllavarpu

I am glad to share with you all the news about our Citrix Branch Repeater 5.5. Building on our momentum with XenApp optimization (via the ICA acceleration feature) released earlier this year, we announced today the availability of our newest Citrix Branch Repeater 5.5. Among the many benefits this release delivers, check out the following key highlights:

•  Microsoft Exchange (MAPI) optimization accelerates Exchange email for branch and mobile users by up to 50X while reducing bandwidth consumption. You also get these benefits if you are streaming Microsoft Outlook with XenApp or Microsoft App-V because streamed Outlook application behaves just like a native application from a network perspective - a streamed Outlook will talk MAPI to the Exchange server in the datacenter.  Here is a sneak peek of email acceleration benefits from an upcoming performance whitepaper (available soon): 
   
  
  
   
• Branch Repeater with Windows Server 2008  enables consolidation of essential branch services with Microsoft's most advanced server operating system - Windows Server 2008. Customers now have a choice of deploying Branch Repeater appliances built on either Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. As before, we continue to offer the non-Windows version of Branch Repeater as well.

• • Of the many powerful capabilities in the Windows Server 2008 operating system, the Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) feature is one I would like to highlight.  RODC allows you to securely deploy Domain Controller in a branch office for faster Windows authentication and login times. This also helps improve the security posture of IT infrastructure in branch offices.
• With the availability of Repeater Plug-in for Citrix Receiver Branch Repeater now provides WAN acceleration benefits for the already easy-to-use Receiver software client. Receiver provides a consistent and intuitive user experience, and simplifies client distribution and updates. For instance, if you want a single client that provides secure access, SSL VPN client and WAN optimization benefits, then Citrix Receiver is a great way to simplify the client distribution and improve the user experience. This now truly provides simple, fast and secure access to applications from anywhere, whether you are working remotely or in a branch office. I encourage you to try it out and share your experiences with us. 
  

Stay tuned for a series of blog posts that explore some of the features in detail.

I encourage you to check out the newest Branch Repeater 5.5 and share your experiences with me at sai.allavarpu@citrix.com.

Sai

Check out the newest Branch Repeater customer case study posted on citrix.com at http://citrix.com/English/aboutCitrix/caseStudies/caseStudy.asp?storyID=1855157
 Lately I have been discussing with partners and customers about how enterprises pursuing M&A strategy or with distributed branch offices often face the kind of challenges that Consolidated Graphics faced. Enterprises with far flung offices and locations are now looking at ways to reduce the cost of delivering applications to branch offices while improving user experience and productivity. Check out the case study to see how Consolidated Graphics:

• • Enabled datacenter consolidation for cost savings
  • Simplified IT administration
  • Doubled throughput on existing T1 lines, avoiding need for network upgrades
  • Improved the user experience at branches

Happy reading!

Sai
Twitter:@SaiAllavarpu

Citrix Branch Repeater: http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=1350184