Citrix acquires VMLogix, expands OpenCloud platform

According to Citrix, the acquisition of VMLogix makes it easy for cloud providers to offer infrastructure services from pre-production and quality assurance, to staging, deployment and business continuity.

And, Klaus Oestermann, group VP and GM, networking and cloud product group at Citrix said “the new enhancements raise the bar in cloud interoperability, scalability and self-service – further extending the company’s leadership position as the most widely deployed provider of virtualisation and networking solutions for the open cloud.

Citix announced overnight that its acquisition of VMLogix is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, adding that it will also allow it to add an “intuitive, self-service interface to its popular XenServer virtualization platform – a key component of its OpenCloud framework – and which it says enables end users to access and manage their own virtual computing resources in on-premise private cloud environments, much like they set up virtual services in large public clouds like Amazon or Rackspace today.

Citrix says its plans to expand its OpenCloud platform include enhanced networking and interoperability capabilities, with the new additions providing the ability for customers to seamlessly manage a mix of public and private cloud workloads from a single management console, even if they span across a variety of different cloud providers.  All of the enhancements will be available to the more than 600 service providers worldwide who are now certified to deliver services based on the Citrix OpenCloud platform.

Oestermann says Citrix believes in “providing choice as a fundamental driver for enterprises and cloud providers to truly drive cloud economics,” and he adds, “this isn’t about giving customers the ability to buy the same offering from multiple sources – it’s about providing them the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of cloud services designed around an open framework that encourages both innovation and interoperability while optimising cost. With the expanded capabilities of the OpenCloud platform for lifecycle management, cloud interoperability and cloud networking, we are further delivering on our core belief to provide true choice for our customers.”