Citrix snares XenSource

Channel welcomes Citrix' $500m agreement to snap up enterprise virtualisation vendor XenSource

Citrix' move to acquire server and desktop virtualisation vendor XenSource has received the thumbs up from its channel.

The two vendors signed a definitive agreement this week, which will see Citrix acquire XenSource for approximately $500m in a combination of cash and stock. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the fourth quarter 2007.

Mark Templeton, chief executive of Citrix, said: "We are tremendously excited about the opportunity to add the XenSource products, team and culture to the Citrix family. Incorporating XenSource's virtualisation services into our application delivery infrastructure will enable our entire product line to be more flexible. We believe application delivery will be a defining issue for IT over the next decade because applications are the language of business."

Ian Pratt, co-founder of XenSource, said: "This represents a key milestone for Xen project. Citrix is committed to our community and the principles of transparency and neutrality that allow us to work together on the reference standard for virtualisation."

David Caughtry, director of e-business at distributor Computerlinks, said: " As an established distributor for Citrix and the first distributor in the UK for XenSource the news has been warmly received by us. Computerlinks has been instrumental in the development of the UK channel for XenSource by recruiting partners into the XenSource Partner Program, providing sales and technical resource and delivering accredited technical training courses.

"We have invested time and resource into the XenSource franchise over the past 12 months and this acquisition proves that the focus on the virtualisation market has been worthwhile. We have already witnessed good traction with XenSource on all fronts; product development, partner recruitment and sales. With Citrix's resource behind them it can only accelerate XenSource's maturity both in terms of product development and commercial viability."

Caughtry added: "It remains business as usual for us. We are perfectly positioned to deliver Citrix and XenSource to the channel. XenSource products are managed by the same team internally that manages Citrix so the relationships with both vendors are already intertwined. We will continue to do what we've been doing for the last 12 months but with the added impetus of a new product release and strength. We are looking forward to a very busy and bright future."