In the last couple of years virtualization.info reported how the relationship between Microsoft and Citrix is getting tighter and tighter around virtualization, well beyond the historical Terminal Server/Metaframe partnership.
In the name of a planned integration that the two announced two years ago, XenServer uses the Microsoft virtual hard drive format (VHD), the Citrix Essentials management suite controls Hyper-V (and Citrix gives a part of it away for free) and the Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) will manage XenServer and XenApp.
It’s not finished anyway: yesterday Citrix announced further integration, this time about App-V and XenApp.
Citrix will now support the Microsoft application virtualization platform on its Receiver in H2 2009 and in the new Dazzle management solution in H1 2010.
Additionally, in H1 2010 Citrix will release a connector for System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to distribute XenApp virtual applications through the Microsoft management solution.
About the first part of the announcement the new CTO of XenApp division at Citrix, Harry Labana, addresses the key question immediately: is Citrix stopping Application Virtualization development?
Well, now that I have the advantage of having access to status reports I don’t have to speculate anymore. I know for a fact that there are a number of enhancements that our development teams are working on, so these enhancements continue in preparation for the next XenApp release. Moving beyond just the next release of XenApp, we plan to continue to invest to enable delivery of Windows applications as a service.