Citrix Systems is buying virtualization management software vendor VMLogix as it looks to extend the capabilities of its OpenCloud virtualization platform.
Citrix Systems is buying virtualization management software maker VMLogix as
part of a larger strategy to improve the scalability and interoperability of
its OpenCloud infrastructure platform.
The platform is designed to help service providers create
offerings around virtualization and cloud computing. Citrix officials made
their announcement Aug. 30 at VMware's VMworld show in San
Francisco.
The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third
quarter, were not disclosed. The acquisition will enable Citrix to add life-cycle
management capabilities to its OpenCloud platform that will enable cloud
service providers to offer services that range from pre-production to staging,
deployment and business continuity.
It also will give Citrix a self-service interface for its XenServer
virtualization platform, which officials said is a key part of the OpenCloud
architecture. The interface will let users access and manage their virtual
computing resources in on-premises private clouds in a fashion similar to what they
see in public clouds from Amazon.com, Google and Rackspace.
VMLogix has been a growing company since its founding in 2004,
according to company officials. In February, the company announced that it had
seen record growth in 2009 that included doubling the revenues and number of
direct customers. Officials also said there were "hundreds" of
enterprises, ISVs and universities using the company's technologies.
It was also last year that VMLogix expanded from a private
cloud virtual lab management software vendor to the maker of a public cloud package
when it released VMLogix LabManager-Cloud Edition.
VMLogix in 2009 also signed an OEM agreement with Citrix, in
which VMLogix's LabManager and StageManager software was bundled with Citrix
Essentials.
As part of the VMLogix acquisition, Citrix also is adding open
virtual life-cycle management and self-service capabilities that will support
all of the leading virtualization platforms, including VMware and Microsoft's
Hyper-V. The new capabilities will enable businesses to create production-like
environments in both private and public clouds, and to migrate virtual
workloads with a single mouse click, Citrix officials said.
In addition to purchasing VMLogix, Citrix also is integrating
OpenStack, an open-source orchestration and management technology that the
company is developing with Rackspace, NASA, Dell and others, into its OpenCloud
platform.
The OpenCloud platform will have new virtual switching
capabilities via the Open vSwitch project and will support the OpenFlow
protocol, which helps pool resources of per-host virtual switches to create a
dynamic and distributed cloud fabric.
Citrix will be demonstrating the capabilities of its OpenCloud
framework at VMworld.
The new capabilities in the OpenCloud platform dovetail with
Citrix's push to offer choices to enterprises and cloud providers, according to
Klaus Oestermann, group vice president and general manager of Citrix's
Networking and Cloud Product Group.
"This isn't about giving customers the ability to buy the
same offering from multiple sources," Oestermann said in a statement.
"It's about providing them the opportunity to choose from a wide variety
of cloud services designed around an open framework."
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