I just received a phone report from one of our guys (Robin Brandl) at the Microsoft Management Summit
in Las Vegas.
Any time you shout a bold claim out in the market, you run the risk of getting it thrown back at you. It could happen to any technology company. This time, the bold claim happens to come from Provision Networks. I am not disputing that Provision Networks has a capable VDI solution to offer that works with Microsoft's Hyper-V. But this is a case where being bold some times backfires.
David Kim on our Citrix-Microsoft Relationship team worked closely with Microsoft to get a demo of Citrix XenDesktop built inside the Microsoft booth on the exhibit floor at MMS. This demo shows Citrix XenDesktop working with Hyper-V and the beta of System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SC VMM).
While putting the finishing touches on the demo, the team noticed Provision Networks setting up their own booth and demo nearby. There were signs displayed in the Provision Networks booth that said "VDI for Hyper-V: Only from Quest". Not only that, but Provision Networks was giving away dozens of green t-shirts and buttons that said the same thing.
The Citrix team at the conference got a big laugh the next day while attending the Day 2 Keynote by Brad Anderson, General Manager of the Management and Services Division at Microsoft. (You can watch the keynotes from the Microsoft Management Summit here).
Brad Anderson's keynote included a discussion about virtual desktops. The only VDI solution highlighted in the live virtual desktop demo was Citrix XenDesktop, including the integration the Hyper V and SC VMM. No mention at all of Provision Networks.
(You can read Tim Mangan's great post on BrianMadden.com about each day's keynote at MMS.)
You do not just have to take my obviously biased word for it (Citrix does pay me to work here, believe it or not). There is video proof of this. If you go the to the Day 2 Keynote video, you can watch the live demo that Brad Anderson and Edwin Yuen (Sr. Product Manager for System Center) did at about the 17 minute mark. If you watch the entire 1 hour and ten minute keynote, you will hear Brad Anderson mention Citrix and the "strong partnership" with Microsoft multiple times. Somehow the only "VDI solution that works with Hyper V" was left out.
After the keynote, a Citrix customer came up to Robin and asked if Citrix had t-shirts that said "The Only VDI Solution That Works at a Microsoft Keynote..."
Some may not find this as funny as I did. I don't expect any of our friends at Provision Networks are laughing about it. I am sure they will recover and continue to go after the VDI market aggressively, as will Citrix.
