Citrix makes Evergreen WAN union with Microsoft

Working with Microsoft, Citrix has developed a product which will allow branch offices to take advantage of wide area network optimisation without removing the branch server.

The product, currently in beta, is as yet nameless, although the project is code-named "Evergreen", according to Citrix vice president Rob Willis.

The company has worked together with Microsoft to take wide area network (WAN) technology and embed it into Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Willis said at the Citrix Partner Accelerator 2008 event in Sydney.

"We want to provide a device for our customers in the branch environment who need the services they get from the Microsoft Windows server environment and want to be more efficient across their network," Willis continued.

Many approaches to delivering services in branches have until now required taking the server out, Willis said. This has stymied branches using local benefits that the servers offer, such as printing and log on, which, when delivered over the network, can be problematic if the connection is bad or if the WAN server is not working properly, Willis said.

With its new product, Citrix is approaching things from a different direction, according to Willis. "It uses the benefits the server has got and puts in the WAN optimisation," he said.

The product, scheduled to ship in the second quarter of this year, will first take the form of an appliance which can be physically plugged into the server. Later this year the company will provide it in a software form.