“The only thing that is constant is change.”
– Heraclitus
When it comes to Citrix product names, truer words were never spoken. Just when you were feeling Xen about the current portfolio, Citrix is changing things up on you… again. Specifically, at the recent Synergy conference, Citrix announced a unification effort consisting of the following changes that will take effect throughout 2018:
Citrix Workspace
Citrix Workspace will become one unified, contextual, secure offering consisting of the following components:
Citrix Workspace App – Essentially combines elements of Receiver, ShareFile, and XenMobile apps
Citrix Content Collaboration – Will replace ShareFile
Citrix Endpoint Management – Will replace XenMobile, includes mobile apps like Citrix Secure Mail, which is replacing WorxMail, and Citrix Secure Web, which is replacing WorxWeb
Citrix Secure Browser – Will replace XenApp Secure Browser
Citrix Hypervisor – Will replace XenServer
Citrix App Layering – Was already renamed after the Unidesk acquisition
Citrix Virtual Apps – Replaces XenApp
Citrix Virtual Desktops – Replaces XenDesktop
These changes make sense. From a marketing perspective, there’s certainly an interest in furthering the Citrix brand. From a user perspective, having seen an impressive demo at Synergy, I am interested in being able to access virtual apps, virtual desktops, SaaS apps, files, and secure mobile apps from a single client application.
Citrix Networking
Citrix Networking will be comprised of components formerly called NetScaler and Cedexis, and will expand further into software-defined networking.
Citrix ADC – Will replace NetScaler ADC
Citrix SD-WAN – Will replace NetScaler SD-WAN
Citrix Web App Firewall – Will replace NetScaler App Security, App Firewall, and Web App Security
Citrix Gateway – Will replace NetScaler Unified Gateway, NetScaler Gateway, and Access Gateway
Citrix Application Delivery Management – Will replace NetScaler Management and Analytics System (“MAS”)
Citrix Secure Web Gateway – Will replace NetScaler Secure Web Gateway
Citrix Intelligent Traffic Management – Will replace Cedexis Platform
While the same logic about furthering the Citrix brand applies, we think it’s likely that references to NetScaler will stick around for a while, even if informally.
(Five years from now)
“Hey, did you upgrade the Citrix ADCs?”
“The what?”
“You know, the NetScalers!”
“Oh, right!”
Citrix Analytics
Citrix Analytics uses machine learning to provide user behavior analytics and proactive security insights. Citrix Analytics collects data across the Citrix portfolio and generates actionable insights that let administrators proactively handle user and application security threats, improve application performance, and support continuous operations.
Citrix Analytics consists of the following components:
- Citrix Analytics for Networking
- Citrix Analytics for Workspaces
These days, the concern is less about whether products can be installed and configured correctly and perform as they should, and more about how information gathered from products as data sources at scale can be aggregated and analyzed to inform business decisions. This is the logical extension of technologies that began as Citrix Tools as a Service (“TaaS”) and evolved into Citrix Customer Insight Services (“CIS”).