Citrix Acquires Kaviza, Adds VDI Solution to Portfolio

Citrix Systems has acquired  Kaviza, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) specialist. Citrix will add Kaviza’s VDI-in-a-Box to its portfolio of service for its SMB clients. The announcement surfaced at the 2011 Citrix Summit in San Francisco, Calif.

Kaviza and Citrix claim that Kaviza’s VDI solution has everything an SMB needs to “go virtual.” It leverages Citrix HDX to deliver complete, high-performance desktop capabilities, and it doesn’t require SMBs to have separate shared storage or management servers. Kaviza’s VDI solution does not require any separate connection brokers, load balancers or shared network storage. Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Desktop Division at Citrix Systems Gordon Payne spoke about the Citrix Sytems – Kaviza relationship at the 2011 Citrix Summit.

“Kaviza understands the need of small and medium businesses and has made great strides in giving these types of organizations a simple, low-cost solution for virtual desktops,” said Payne. The cost of a VDI solution has been the main deterrent for SMBs in adopting VDI solutions. Both Citrix and Kaviza say their now joint VDI solution is low-cost and satisfies all of an SMBs VDI needs. Payne also noted that Citrix’s acquisition of Kaviza gives Citrix the opportunity to better sell its virtualization platform. “The Kaviza team and innovative technology they built will add significant value to our desktop virtualization product line as more and more SMB’s adopt virtual desktops, and it will help us drive continued growth and market leadership in desktop virtualization.”

Citrix systems acquiring Kaviza is not a huge surprise. Citrix Systems and Kaviza have been strategic partners ever since Citrix Systems invested in Kaviza back in April 2010. Back then it was clear something was brewing, and it all came to fruition with this week’s acquisition.

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