Unidesk partners in 'holding pattern' following Citrix takeover

Partners who work with VMware and Microsoft unsure of their future in ecosystem following acquisition by Citrix

Unidesk's acquisition by Citrix has left partners who work with rival vendors including VMware and Microsoft unsure of their future in its channel ecosystem.

The vendor-agnostic application-layering pioneer was acquired last night by Citrix for an undisclosed sum, with Citrix promising to bundle its technology into XenApp and XenDesktop for free.

Citrix said it will continue to sell Unidesk as a standalone product for VMware Horizon and Microsoft virtual desktop customers, but partners told us that details of the strategy remain thin on the ground.

Founded in 2007, Unidesk is credited as being the inventor of the layering approach, which allows users to separate apps from the underlying operating system, so they can be managed once and delivered from any end-user computing solution to any device.

Andy Trevor, managing director of Unidesk partner Cutter Group, said he is currently working on three Unidesk proof-of-concepts for around 5,000 seats, adding that he had some reservations around the deal.

"It was pretty obvious that Citrix was buying them because all the development suddenly switched to being Citrix-centric," he said.

"It's a little disappointing, as Unidesk does have a great reputation for being vendor-agnostic. We've got a number of deployments with VMware, [Microsoft] Hyper-V and Citrix, and it works well across the three platforms, so I'm hoping they are true to their word and will keep it as a standalone product."

Left on the shelf?

Trevor added: "The big issue we've got is that there is absolutely no information for the channel. Our number-one question is what the licensing model will be for the standalone product for Hyper-V and VMware. The second question is whether the standalone product will be developed at a similar rate to what it is inside Citrix, or whether it will be left unloved on the shelf."

Cutter Group is currently evaluating alternative options such as VMware's App Volumes offering, which Trevor said works out fractionally more expensive than Unidesk when offered as a standalone product.

Unidesk has its sweet spot in hospitals and schools and other organisations with large application stacks and complex user cases, Trevor said.

"It's all about reducing the number of golden templates needed, which then reduces substantially the amount of administrative management that's needed," he explained.

"Our view is that Unidesk is a slightly better product than App Volumes but that App Volumes is more than man enough to do the job and is a very capable tool. On the VMware side, there are definitely options out there - Liquidware Labs also have a package of tools that could fill some gaps."

Kevin Penn, CEO of EssentialNET, another Unidesk partner that works with Nutanix for hypervisors, said he also had questions about what the deal would mean for non-Citrix projects.

"The product fits beautifully into our Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor, Unidesk and Workspot VDI solution set," he said.

"From our perspective, as long as Citrix allows us to continue to sell and deploy Unidesk on an Acropolis hypervisor then I think it's a good acquisition, and it will only bring more resources to Unidesk and improve what it already does. If, however, Citrix moulds it into XenWorkspace and it can only be purchased through purchasing a XenWorkspace licence, then it kills the product in a lot of ways because one of its clear values is that it is vendor-agnostic.

"It's a holding pattern to see what Citrix are going to do with it - whether they are going to be a good partner to the likes of us and allow us to continue selling it on whatever virtualisation layer we choose, or will say 'sorry, you have to buy the full Citrix licence with it'."

Mario Cirillo, CTO of Citrix partner Metaphor IT, welcomed the deal, but said the move may vex Citrix customers who have invested in the vendo's recently developed AppDisk layering technology.

"AppDisk hasn't taken off as well as Citrix would have liked, which is potentially where the Unidesk acquisition has come from," he said.

"We see this as a positive step, but I suspect a lot of customers who have made the jump to AppDisk may be somewhat frustrated that they will have to move to a different layering technology."

Who's next on Citrix's shopping list?

Cirillo noted that Citrix has become more aggressive on the acquisition front of late, citing its recent purchase of user environment management vendor Norskale, and predicted that virtual workspace outfit FSLogix could be next.

"What FSLogix offers in the layering arena is the ability to make things like Citrix and VMware work seamlessly with Office365, and no-one else can do that. And with Citrix's growing relationship with Microsoft I'd hedge my bets that that would probably be the next on the list," he said.

Cirillo said the acquisition "isn't great news" for VMware partners who favour Unidesk.

"I can't see Citrix investing in a product that's going to complement the VMware offering," he said.

However, Bruce Hockin, director of storage solutions at Unidesk's sole UK distributor, Cloud Distribution, said he felt it is in Citrix's interests to continue supporting Unidesk partners who work with VMware, Microsoft and other hypervisors.

"There's absolutely a revenue stream for Citrix there, and a desire to implement their technology with the other vendors," he said.

The acquisition is a "smart move" for Citrix as the fact it will bundle Unidesk for free for existing customers who have support will benefit both partners and customers, Hockin added.

"From an end-user perspective, it's all goodness, and from a partner perspective, it gives them a reason to continue to promote and sell Citrix as it gives them a competitive edge," he said.