Citrix and HP Play Let’s Make a Deal

Citrix today announced a major deal with HP as part of its plans to grow the
market for XenServer, the virtualization software it gained last year with
its $500
million dollar purchase of XenSource.

The “strategic development and distribution agreement” with HP (NYSE: HPQ)
bundles an enhanced version of Citrix XenServer with 64-bit HP ProLiant
servers that HP will both market and support.

“It’s all the technology you need for a complete virtualization plan that’s
HP-branded,” Simon Crosby, chief technology officer of Citrix’
virtualization and management division, told InternetNews.com.

The Citrix XenServer HP Select Edition also includes HP management tools
like its Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) for remote server management and a new
HP ProLiant Virtual Console that’s designed to manage virtual as well as
physical servers.

Crosby said ProLiant customers will be able to use the
same management systems for virtualization they’re used to, including HP
Systems Insight Manager (SIM), for a consolidated view of system hardware,
configuration, performance and status.

Citrix will also offer a license key and a USB with the XenServer HP
Select Edition preloaded to the installed base of ProLiant owners for $299.

Last October, Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) announced a deal with Dell to embed
XenServer with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) servers by the end of this quarter.
But Crosby said the deal with HP is specifically designed to tap into what
he called HP’s richer management and support portfolio.

The news comes a day after Microsoft announced the beta release of
Hyper-V, its long-awaited virtualization engine for Windows Server 2008.
Crosby said Microsoft’s entry didn’t prompt or influence its plans to pursue
HP.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.