X
Business

Microsoft and Citrix commit to moving on-premises Citrix users to Azure

Microsoft and Citrix commit (again) to integrating their virtualization services and products.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft and Citrix have been partners for more than two decades. On July 14, Microsoft provided an update on its ongoing Citrix relationship, a week ahead of Microsoft's annual Inspire worldwide partner conference.

There's not a whole lot that's brand-new in today's update. Citrix already had committed to make Microsoft's Azure a preferred cloud platform. And the pair already had discussed their plans for more tightly integrating Citrix's various offerings with Azure and Microsoft's Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) service.

The two companies did commit today to providing joint tools and services for speeding the transition of on-premises Citrix customers to Azure. And they said they would create a "connected roadmap" that covers joint offerings comprised of Citrix Workspace, Citrix SD-WAN, Azure, and Microsoft 365. These joint offerings will be sold through their respect direct sales forces via the Azure Marketplace and channel partners.

To be honest, the most interesting piece of today's partnership renewal between the companies was a line in the press release noting "both Citrix and Microsoft will maintain their long-standing policies of supporting choice." Most of Microsoft's announcements of partners making Azure their "preferred" cloud vendor don't mention that preferred doesn't signify "only."

Citrix Workspace and Networking are available on AWS and Google Cloud Platform in addition to Azure.

Editorial standards