Citrix has become a Microsoft Direct cloud service provider, offering a way for users to purchase Citrix products alongside Microsoft 365 licences and Azure capacity, all within the Azure marketplace.
The software company said that the partnership would also help customers cut down on the number of transactions that were required as part of a purchase, and speed up the deployment process.
"Today we are excited to announce a new commercial relationship, a broad range of technology integrations and new joint programs that will help customers implement their cloud strategies," said Calvin Hsu, VP of product marketing, desktops and apps, at Citrix.
"This new era in our partnership will provide simple, turnkey solutions for customers to purchase and deploy digital workspaces and networking solutions in Microsoft Azure, along with expert guidance to plan and execute their cloud migrations."
According to Citrix, both companies recognise that the transition to the cloud can be complex for customers and many need expert guidance to help them plan and execute their migration.
The combined Citrix and Microsoft solutions will also be available through Citrix's solution advisors as well as the two firm's service providers. The two companies are jointly enabling a select group of highly skilled partners via the Cloud Alliance initiative.
The first joint product to be released will be a 'Desktop-as-a-service' (DaaS) offering available as part of the Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop, allowing customers to purchase a Citrix-prepared virtual desktop through Azure.
In addition to the DaaS offering, Citrix said the collaboration will provide technology integrations across its networking and analytics services. For any customer running workloads in Azure, using Office 365 or thinking of moving their virtual desktops to the cloud, Citrix said it will be one of the only integrated solutions that will deliver high performance and reliability.
Microsoft has been expanding its partner ecosystem in recent months, with Computacentre becoming one of the first businesses to offer a Microsoft Managed Desktop (MMD) service, which offers customers the opportunity for Microsoft to manage their employees' devices.
