A number of Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) channel partners experienced double-digit growth in key technology areas in the last 12 months, according to the firm’s latest Channel Index survey.
The study shows VARs in EMEA are bucking the economic trend in two areas – mobile working – or ‘workshifting’ as Citrix has now termed it – and the move to the cloud.
Citrix surveyed 210 channel partners across the region, and found 56 percent had experienced growth of 10 percent or more in their workshifting business over the last year, with a further 20 percent seeing growth of up to 10 percent.
What’s more, says Citrix, the partners expect to see the same level of growth next year. This is against a backdrop of predictions from forecasters that the Euro zone will contract by 0.5 percent during 2012.
“This is a tremendous result, given the economic conditions,” commented Christian Partarrieu, director of channel sales and alliances for EMEA, at the Citrix Summit in Barcelona today.
The vendor reckons in 2011 desktop virtualisation was being rolled out primarily for office based workers, but in 2012 businesses are looking for the technology to support mobile and home workers.
There also appears to be a shift among Citrix partners away from desktop virtualisation towards enterprise cloud platforms and server virtualisation. When asked what would offer them the greatest potential for growth in the next twelve months, enterprise cloud platform and server virtualisation ranked highest, followed in order by desktop virtualisation, desktop productivity software, mobile device management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
A quarter of partners forecast double digit growth for cloud infrastructure projects, followed by 28 percent and 23 percent who forecast 6-10 and 0-5 percent growth respectively.
