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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

Citrix, Microsoft, and Red Hat or Novell gang up on VMware

16 comments

TAGS:Citrix, Microsoft, virtualization, VMware, Xen, XenServer
IT TOPICS:Desktops & Servers, Enterprise Software & Services, Hardware, Linux, Operating Systems, Servers & Data Center, Software, Virtualization, Windows & Microsoft

Citrix is about to put a world of hurt on its virtualization rival, VMware. Next week, Citrix will be announcing that it will no longer charge for its flagship virtualization program XenServer 5, and its new management program, Citrix Essentials, will support both Microsoft's Hyper-V and XenServer.

This looks like a smart move to me. Virtualization, even high-end virtualization like XenServer is fast becoming a commodity. Off the top of my head, I can list four different virtualization programs that are open source: Sun's VirtualBox; Citrix's Xen; Linux's built-in KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine); and Parallels' OpenVZ. Heck, even VMware, which has no love for open source, was forced to release its desktop virtualization program, VMware View Open Client, as open source.

In addition, even more companies are jumping into virtualization. Networking giants Cisco and Juniper are slowly moving into network virtualization and servers may not be far behind.

With a market like this you have to do something different to try to stand out. What Citrix will be doing is giving away its high-end virtualization program in an attempt to grab market share while betting that its virtualization management programs will make the money.

I like that bet. I especially like it since Microsoft, and at least one of the major Linux distributors, Red Hat or Novell, will be backing Citrix's play. Citrix will be able to say to virtualization customers, on both Windows and Linux, that they can supply them with a single virtualization management program.

That's an attractive idea. Since Microsoft and Red Hat are making virtualization peace and Microsoft and Novell have long been working together on virtualization, I can see Microsoft-only, Linux-only, and mixed shops all buying into Citrix's virtualization management solutions. After all, as anyone who has tried to deploy data-center virtualization knows, virtualization is the easy part. Managing all those VMs (virtual machines) is the problem.

What's good news for Citrix is bad news for VMware though. VMware was already having enough trouble just coping with all its free and open-source rivals, I don't see how VMware can possibly hold them off when its has the unlikely tag-team of Microsoft and the Linux vendors, with Citrix at their head, attacking the company.

For virtualization users, I think this is exactly what they need. For VMware, though, it's the last thing they needed.

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hmmm

Submitted by Pablo on February 20, 2009 - 6:56 P.M.

Getting tighter with Microsoft has worked out well for so many other folks!!!

I'm sure the fact that MS Server 2008 destroying Citrix Pres Server revenue isn't worth worrying about either...

All just another sign of Citrix/XEN's slow death spiral.

The idea of Enterprise Virtualization as commodity has been greatly exaggerated by a bored 24/7 IT media.

The reality is VMware is STILL the only Enterprise class option. Everything else is a consolidation platform with a couple bells and whistles to confuse the uneducated.

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Oh this should be fun to watch...

Submitted by Jason on February 21, 2009 - 12:58 P.M.

Sounds like a comment a scared VMware employee / partner would make... Pablo, come clean now.

Server Virtualization is clearly becoming a commodity, which would scare me too if 80%(?) of my company revenue was at risk of being commoditized in the near future. lower your prices and you'll make Citrix's layoffs look pale by comparison.

The fact is that this is a great strategic move for Citrix, and a win for the consumer of virtualization. By giving away the core server virtualization stack, they do little damage to their bottom line, while chopping down a significant sector of VMware's business (those that don't need ballooning, DRS, and the like).

Now that they are offering enterprise features for Hyper-V, all those dormant hypervisors that have been installed over the past year can have VMware functionality without the ridiculous price tag.

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Oh this should be fun to watch...

Submitted by Jason on February 21, 2009 - 12:55 P.M.

Sounds like a comment a scared VMware employee / partner would make... Pablo, come clean now.

Now that they are offering enterprise features for Hyper-V, all those dormant hypervisors that have been installed over the past year can have VMware functionality without the ridiculous price tag.

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Hmmm...

Submitted by Mukhman on February 19, 2009 - 6:24 P.M.

Steven,

1. You've been a tech journalist for 20 years. May I ask how many years you have spent working in a data center, especially in recent times?

2. Have you ever spoken to VMware customers to understand why they will continue to stick with VMware in spite these so-called challengers?

3. Last I checked, success in the marketplace depends on 4 Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Giving away your product is meaningless if your product does not meet all the requirements of your customers. (Again, see #2.) True, some businesses would find the alternatives to VMware appealing and should implement those solutions. But at this time, none of VMware's competitors come remotely close to its full-featured offerings. You have to ask yourself, which one is the best value for your money?

Another person commented on Oracle versus the rest. Oracle had to listen to the same criticism. Yet they are still the market leader in the DBMS market, and based on Gartner's 2008 report, they are #2 in the Magic Quadrant, extending their lead over IBM and leaving Microsoft in the dust at #5.

Netscape is prehistory. Welcome to the future, where MS makes a lot of noise but doesn't always back it up with substance.

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The should give it away,

Submitted by Anonymous on February 19, 2009 - 5:08 P.M.

The should give it away, since they can't sell it. They are laying off their workforce, especially their employees that deal w/ virtualization.

Can't sustain a business on freeware, and citrix can't innovate. Why would any company bet their business on this?

Citrix is on the way out and is grasping for straws.

You get what you pay for!!!

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Interesting comment

Submitted by John Nicholas on February 19, 2009 - 6:39 P.M.

I guess you are an outright VMWare fan that has enjoyed their arrogant attitude to the virtual server market. Citrix have recognized that VMWare already have the lion share of the server market, however their Desktop virtualization both through XenApp and XenDesktop is far better then any of the offerings from VMWare whilst recognizing that they are not the "only" player in the market so support all three of the big players, Hyper-V, XenServer and VMWare. They were forced not by VMWare to give the product away but more by Microsofts almost zero cost for Hyper-V. Now by offering it for free it reduced the cost for people wishing to implement XenDesktop or even XenApp on a virtual platform without paying the high VMWare prices making these solutions much more affordable.

Stating that Citrix is on "On it's way out" is very blinkered and assumes that a market leader in Desktop virtualization will just disappear, that laying people off is a sign that they are losing market share, so Microsoft are on their way out too then... And "you get what you pay for" thats really not a serious comment is it, so if you pay through the nose for something then it will always be brilliant, but something that is free or very low cost is bound to be rubbish, hmm Linux must be rubbish then, where as Vista is absolutely brilliant.

It's very easy to post comments like this anonymously isn't it.

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Am I missing something

Submitted by Simon Daniels on February 19, 2009 - 4:05 P.M.

Am I missing something here??? VMware is in trouble why? Because a company who has sent almost US$1bn on XenSource and its integration into it organisation now realises that it cannot actually sell that technology so a better idea is to give it away? I think it is Citrix that is in trouble, Presentation Server/XenApp is rapidly becoming less relevant to most organisations, the only excellent products they have are the GoTo product range, they bet the farm on XenSource and it has gone south. Finally they are buddying up to Microsoft who are only using them to help slow VMware until while they furiously copy features VMware had 5 years ago. The strategy now is to enter the management space which Microsoft has publicly declared as their own and they are not going to let Citrix take a piece of their pie.

And one final note, can anyone sincerely tell me that yearly revenue of US$21.9mil for Server and Desktop virtualisation is a great return on US$1bn spend? Because that is how much Citrix made on it financial last year and now they are giving part of that revenue away for free or were they doing that anyhow??

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For Real?

Submitted by Anonymous on February 19, 2009 - 12:52 P.M.

They already give away Xen Server Express Edition.
Are you saying they will give away the Full Suite?
XenMotion, XenCenter, etc???
What about those customers that paid full price already?

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My guess is we will be

Submitted by Anonymouse on February 21, 2009 - 12:36 P.M.

My guess is we will be upgraded to Essentials, and get the additional features. Ill actually be excited if thats the case.

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I am not too surprised at this

Submitted by Anonymous on February 19, 2009 - 7:32 A.M.

I use VirtualBox all the time on Linux to house my Windows images, Linux and MS servers, and especially for training.

I even put Ubuntu on a Laptop, connected an external USB SATA drive and ran VBOX for an entire MS Sharepoint training session! That is SQL, MS Sharepoint, Project Server 2007, IIS, Exchange, etc!! It ran great.

VBox is just extremely Stable and easy to use. Vitual is here to stay.

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