Citrix Portal Server Goes Plug-and-Play

Citrix Systems Inc. announced the latest version of its application portal server Monday, promising a plug-and-play technology to solve implementation headaches and deliver a personalized experience to users.

The software, known as NFuse Elite provides secure access to personalized applications and content as well as centralized management for administrators, Citrix officials said, going beyond previous versions of NFuse, which provided only static Web portals and application links which could not be customized to individual users.

The software features wizard-driven installation and pre-configured roles, themes and templates to speed and simplify implementation. Though company officials concede that larger implementations would require more customization, which would slow implementation times.

However, NFuse Elite is targeted to small to medium-sized businesses and departments of larger enterprises, Citrix officials said.

NFuse Elite is XML-architected and supports standards-based integration mechanisms, such as Microsoft WebParts and Web Forms.

The software can be used by any company with shared, networked applications, though it will be marketed mainly to Citrixs Metaframe installed base, officials said.

Citrix also announced Monday an agreement with ScreamingMedia Inc. to provide NFuse Elite customers with access to a base package of ScreamingMedia content, such as news feeds, stock quotes and weather reports for up to a year.

NFuse Elite users access ScreamingMedias information services via Citrix Content Delivery Agents (CDAs), which are individual portal applications made available by the portal administrator and customizable by individual end-users.

NFuse Elite is available now. Pricing, including the ScreamingMedia base package for a year is $67 per named user based on a minimum of 75 users. Volume pricing is available over and above that.