Firms will help customers move to the cloud and adopt digital workspaces and virtual desktops
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Microsoft and Citrix have expanded their long-term partnership to accelerate the speed at which enterprise customers can achieve a ‘workplace of the future’, where flexible work models allow employees to work from any location and at any time”with greater agility, productivity and security”. The firms will deploy joint tools and services to help customers move to the cloud and adopt digital workspaces and virtual desktops.
As part of the new agreement, Microsoft will use Citrix Workspace as a preferred digital workspace solution and Citrix will choose Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud platform. Citrix will move existing on-premises customers to Microsoft Azure to enable them to work anywhere.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses around the world to change the way that employees work, while still meeting the speed and security requirements that today’s uncertain business environment demands,” said David Henshall, CEO of Citrix. “Together, Citrix and Microsoft can deliver a powerful digital workspace in a trusted and secure public cloud where employees can access everything they need to engage and be productive whether they are at home, in the office, or on the road.”
Microsoft says that the partnership will “provide joint tools and services to simplify and speed the transition of on-premises Citrix customers to Microsoft Azure” and “help chief information officers to minimise the risk, cost, and complexity in accelerating their transformation to cloud to enable greater agility, productivity, and security”. By combining Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 and Citrix Workspace, the partnership seeks to enable users to access all their applications, content and business services, to be productive and secure wherever they work.
“As organisations everywhere adapt to new ways of work, they will need to reimagine how and where work gets done,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “Together with Citrix, we will apply the power of Azure to this challenge, helping our customers seamlessly and securely connect their employees to their applications, so they can be more agile and productive wherever they are.”