Citrix Advances Cloud Strategy with New Version of XenServer
October 2, 2012
Citrix today announced the latest version of Citrix XenServer®, an industry-leading virtualization platform for companies to create and manage virtual infrastructures for servers, desktops and clouds. XenServer 6.1 strengthens its server virtualization feature set for datacenter consolidation and simplifies the path to cloud computing with advanced virtual machine migration, enhanced networking and security, increased vendor compatibility and automated virtual machine conversion tools.
XenServer is a complete server virtualization platform built on the powerful open-source Xen hypervisor. Xen technology is widely acknowledged as the fastest and most secure virtualization software in the industry and is designed for efficient management of Windows® and Linux® virtual servers, delivering cost-effective server consolidation and business continuity. XenServer adds a rich set of management and automation capabilities, cloud management integrations and security enhancements to optimize the platform for the cloud-enabled datacenter of the future…
New features in the latest version of XenServer include:
- Enhanced Integration with Leading Cloud Platforms: Direct integration with Apache CloudStack and Citrix CloudPlatform, powered by Apache CloudStack, make it easy to partition firewalls, balance workloads and prevent attacks on systems in both public and private cloud environments -enhancing security and scalability for companies of all sizes.
- "Shared Nothing" Storage Migration: XenServer now features an all new StorageXenMotion® technology that lets IT freely move running virtual machines without the need for shared storage. With the new Storage XenMotion feature, live migration occurs using a "shared nothing" architecture where the storage used for the virtual disks can be moved freely within and across pools for optimized storage utilization, simplified backup and serviceability — to deliver true VM agility in the cloud.
- Batch Conversion from VMware to XenServer: XenServer Conversion Manager is a simple tool to automate batch conversions of VMware virtual machines into XenServer virtual machines for companies looking to maximize cost and performance. This tool will enable customers to ensure that they are using the best virtualization platform for their chosen applications in the datacenter and in the cloud.
XenServer is the virtualization platform for many of the world’s largest production virtual desktop and cloud computing environments and was recently positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant of the "2012 Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure," and was listed as a "Champion" and "Value Leader" in Info-Tech Research Group’s Vendor Landscape report on server virtualization. The free edition of XenServer has been downloaded nearly one million times. XenServer powers over 100,000 Citrix customers, four of the top five largest hosting provider public clouds and runs workloads in over half of the businesses in the Fortune 500.
Quotes
Peder Ulander, vice president of product marketing, Cloud Platforms Group, Citrix
"Citrix has gained a significant foothold in the cloud computing space with XenServer and more recently Citrix CloudPlatform (powered by Apache CloudStack). XenServer is already the most widely deployed virtualization platform in large public clouds today. The tight integration between XenServer and CloudPlatform demonstrated in XenServer 6.1 will provide a new level of manageability and security that will provide a strategic advantage for our cloud customers."
Availability
XenServer 6.1 is available today for download and is delivered in four product versions – free, Advanced, Enterprise and Platinum. All versions of XenServer include XenCenter management and are available on a simple per server licensing structure with premium editions starting at $1000 per server.