What’s in Store from an Expanded Microsoft and Citrix Partnership?
Microsoft and Citrix recently announced they would be partnering together to help organizations build the “workplace of the future.” There’s a lot to unpack in that statement. For starters, on the surface, a partnership between Microsoft and Citrix isn’t anything new as the two companies have been working closely together for roughly two decades. So, what – if anything – makes this item worth paying attention to? Also, how are these two tech giants defining the “workplace of the future?” Especially given that the “workplace of the present” has had to be completely reinvented over the last few months?
With the help of Arraya’s cloud and workspace team, we dove into Microsoft and Citrix’s recent announcement to answer these questions and more.
Microsoft and Citrix take their partnership to new levels
A pair of promises are among the core tenets of the multi-year agreement signed by the two companies. For its part, Microsoft has vowed to feature Citrix Workspace as its preferred digital workspace solution. Meanwhile, Citrix made a similar pledge to promote Azure as its cloud platform of choice. As a result, existing on-premises Citrix customers will soon have a pathway directly to Azure.
Also as part of the agreement, Microsoft and Citrix have said they will provide a set of shared tools and services to make the journey into Azure easier for current Citrix on-premises customers. The pair will likewise collaborate on a roadmap that will pull from the engineering expertise of both organizations to create forward-focused solutions built on Citrix Workspace, Citrix SD-WAN, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.
It’s worth noting that, preferred partners or not, customers won’t have to relinquish their freedom to choose when working with Citrix or Microsoft. Both companies have promised to continue supporting customers who require or leverage a more diverse range of OEM solutions.
What does Microsoft and Citrix’s news mean for modern organizations?
That’s what the announcement said, but what about what it means for those either currently using or considering a move to Microsoft and/or Citrix solutions?
Like so much of what is taking place across the world at large, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is near the center of this announcement. Demand for flexible work arrangements and access to virtual desktops has been increasing for years, but it’s reached new heights due to the pandemic. Organizations must be prepared, as much as possible, to pursue and adopt hybrid environments able to recognize a workspace as wherever an employee happens to be. However, that flexibility can’t come at the expense of security. Together, Microsoft and Citrix promise to make customers confident in their ability to scale resources quickly and spin up and down virtual desktops on demand, doing so securely to keep sensitive or proprietary information from falling into the wrong hands.
Of course, new ways to connect are great, but without seamless integration, they can become frustrating for users. Microsoft and Citrix understand that frustration could have an adverse effect on productivity – the exact opposite of what was intended by moving to the cloud in the first place. The tech leaders’ intention to jointly engineer solutions speaks directly to avoiding interoperability issues. Instead, the solutions will be built on the collective know-how of each organization’s team, resulting in a smoother user experience.
Here’s a sampling of what this partnership can produce. Citrix and Microsoft plan to bring together Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Citrix Managed Desktops and Windows Virtual Desktops to allow users to run applications in Azure while also accessing Windows apps from an expanded variety of platforms or devices. Citrix also plans to build a Microsoft-oriented Citrix Workplace solution in support of Microsoft apps like Teams, a tool that has become increasingly mission-critical of late.
Next Steps: How to modernize your workplace with Microsoft and Citrix
Want to dive deeper into this news from Microsoft and Citrix and learn how else it could benefit your organization? Arraya Solutions can help. Our cloud and workspace experts are ready to take you through this announcement in greater detail. Also, they can work with you to ensure you pursue and implement workspace and cloud solutions that deliver on their initial promise and provide meaningful benefits to your organization and your customers for years to come.
Visit https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/ to connect with our team.
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