Citrix is investing in desktop virtualisation for mobile devices such as the iPad, following growth in the local virtualisation market.
According to research by Citrix, the South African virtualisation market is expected to grow in spend by 18.9% this year. This is an increase from 3.7% spend in 2009.
Kevin Bland, Citrix channel director for the UK, Ireland and SA, says Citrix is driving its Receiver application for the iPad, which creates a virtual office for mobile workers by providing secure access to corporate applications and documents.
Citrix recently rolled out its sales and technical partner certification training programme called Spearhead. Bland explains that this forms part of Citrix's plans to bolster its position in the virtual desktop market against its competitors.
“From a channel partnership point of view, we are initiating an awareness campaign to help our existing partners and extended partner base to understand the desktop virtualisation opportunities in the market. We are investing in new channel partners that show commitment and step up to the mark.”
He notes that Citrix has identified the first wave of South African partners to do the Spearhead training.
“Coming out of the recession, businesses are calling for desktop transformation. Almost 50% of organisations are looking to adopt desktop virtualisation by 2012. This is because many businesses that are renewing their PCs are looking to avoid costly overheads and complexity,” says Bland.
“Whether it's an iPad, netbook, desktop or thin device, companies want pervasive access of their desktop experience irrespective of the device and the network,” he adds.
“Tablet devices have the potential to do to the netbook what the mobile phone has done to the landline. And it has the ability to deliver a virtualised Windows 7 experience on the iPad.”
In October last year, Citrix updated its virtual desktop solution, XenDesktop 4, which has existed in the marketplace for two years.
Citrix predicts the strongest area for growth coming out of the recession will be in desktop virtualisation, as the South African IT market is set to grow by 18.9% in 2010 and 39.4% in 2011. According to research by Citrix, around 48% of companies will adopt desktop virtualisation within 12 months, with that percentage increasing to 64% within 18 months.
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