Citrix was founded in the state of Texas way back in 1989. Since then it has grown into one of the largest software and cloud service providers in the world, added various lines of business, and has gone from private to public and back again.
The company offers services for virtualization, storage, networking, software as a service, and cloud computing, and has a remarkably varied history with multiple acquisitions, financial highs, and stock market lows.
Here we will look at its history, its products, and its future.
A brief history of Citrix
What would eventually become Citrix first emerged in 1989 when IBM developer Ed lacobucci founded a company called Citra in Richardson, Texas. A trademark dispute led to a renaming that merged Citrix with UNIX.
In its early days, Citrix forged a crucial partnership with Microsoft, licensing the software giant's code to develop remote access products for its various operating systems. This partnership fuelled Citrix's initial growth and remains a key relationship.
Quick facts on Citrix
- Founded in 1989 by Ed Iacobucci
- Headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US
- Citrix employs around 9,000 people as of 2023
- Citrix’s revenue for 2022 was $3.31 billion (prior to becoming a private company)
By the 1990s, Citrix became the leader in thin client technology, enabling remote access to servers and resources through purpose-built devices. Riding this wave, Citrix held a successful IPO in 1995 and saw revenues surge through to the end of the decade.
Through key acquisitions like ExpertCity and Sequoia Software, Citrix expanded beyond its roots into areas like server and desktop virtualization, cloud computing, and software as a service.
More recently, in 2022, private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital acquired Citrix. The company then merged with TIBCO Software to form the new Cloud Software Group.
What does Citrix sell?
Citrix built its name as a leader in virtualization, providing solutions that allow businesses to create virtual versions of hardware, operating systems, storage, networks and more. Flagship offerings like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops give IT control over virtual machines, apps, licensing, and security, while enabling anywhere access.
The company expanded into networking, delivering products like Citrix Web App Firewall, Citrix Gateway, Citrix Application Delivery Management, Citrix SD-WAN. These tools ensure reliable, secure application and data access across networks and clouds, whether in a data centre, branch office or on mobile.
Citrix transitioned some of its virtualization strengths into the cloud, providing software-as-a-service tools like Citrix DaaS that enable simplified management of secure cloud desktops and apps.
The company also offers cloud computing capabilities through Citrix Cloud, a platform that connects resources across chosen on-prem, public cloud, or hybrid environments.
On the workspace side, Citrix Workspace app and digital workspace solutions aim to deliver unified access to apps, desktops, and content from any device. Content Collaboration is Citrix's file sync and sharing product, helping businesses share content on-premise and in the cloud with other collaborators such as colleagues and clients.
Citrix has also ventured into providing secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, which integrate networking and security functions in the cloud to support secure access needs across an increasingly distributed workforce. Citrix Secure Internet Access and Citrix Secure Workspace Access are part of this portfolio, offering secure, high-performance access to applications and data regardless of where they are hosted.
Finally, Citrix leverages analytics in offerings like Citrix Analytics for Security that provide intelligence on threats and performance issues before they become critical. This product collects data across the Citrix portfolio, generating actionable insights to enable administrators to handle user and application security threats - monitoring potential vulnerabilities across an organisation.
Citrix M&A activity
Citrix's acquisition journey began in the early 2000s, making strategic deals like the purchase of ExpertCity in 2003 to expand its remote desktop capabilities.
Over the following decades, Citrix continued growing through acquisitions that complemented its product line or opened new markets. A 2014 deal for Framehawk boosted its virtual desktop and app delivery over wireless networks.
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In 2017, Citrix made the notable decision to acquire Unidesk to enhance its application layering technology for virtual desktop environments (VDI). This acquisition was key to strengthening Citrix’s VDI offerings by simplifying the management and deployment of applications across virtual desktops, further solidifying its market position.
One of the more significant acquisitions in recent years was the purchase of Wrike in 2021 for $2.25 billion. Wrike, a work management platform, competed with popular workplace collaboration tools like Asana. This acquisition marked Citrix's largest at the time and aimed to enhance its product portfolio by integrating comprehensive work management and collaboration capabilities.
The company's biggest deal in its history came in 2022, when private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital acquired Citrix for $16.5 billion. This acquisition underscored Citrix's immense value and set the stage for its next evolution under the newly formed Cloud Software Group. This move was a strategic pivot, providing Citrix with substantial backing to innovate and expand within the cloud computing and virtualization markets.
In April 2024, Cloud Software Group and Microsoft entered an eight-year strategic partnership to enhance joint cloud solutions and generative AI for over 100 million users. This collaboration is designed to bolster Citrix's virtual application and desktop platform, integrate new AI capabilities, and promote Citrix as the preferred Microsoft Global Azure Partner for Enterprise Desktop as a Service. Additionally, Cloud Software Group will invest $1.65 billion in Microsoft's cloud and AI technologies. The partnership aims to simplify licensing, accelerate R&D, and improve productivity through the use of Microsoft 365 and Azure services.
With its robust technology and significant market presence, now supported by major investment from the Cloud Software Group, Citrix is well-positioned to continue its leadership role in cloud computing, virtualization, and beyond, driving innovation and growth in these critical technology sectors.
Key people at Citrix
The strategic direction and innovation efforts across Citrix's application delivery solutions and its parent company Cloud Software Group's portfolio are guided by a seasoned leadership team.
At the helm of Citrix is Sridhar Mullapudi, executive vice president and general manager, responsible for guiding the company's strategic direction and product integration with Microsoft Azure.
Mark Coyle, senior vice president of Finance, manages Citrix's financial operations, budgeting, and planning, while Jitendra Deshpande, senior vice president and head of Engineering, oversees product development and technical innovation.
Providing overall corporate strategy and vision for the parent company, Cloud Software Group, is Tom Krause, who serves as its CEO. Tom Berquist, chief financial officer at Cloud Software Group, handles financial planning, risk management, and reporting for the company.
What can customers expect from doing business with Citrix?
Citrix has established itself as a leader in digital workspace technology, aiming to help organizations improve efficiency, experience, risk management and costs. The company's extensive solutions portfolio spans from flagship offerings like virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and desktop as a service (DaaS) to comprehensive digital workspaces.
These technologies support digital transformation for organizations of all sizes. However, Citrix views partnerships as instrumental to delivering on this vision. The company offers various partner programs designed to provide enablement, tools, and resources to deepen customer relationships and drive growth.
For instance, Citrix's partner initiatives aim to equip partners to manage customer lifecycles through training, incentives and support focused on product expertise.
For both customers and partners, Citrix strives to deliver an ecosystem that empowers achievement of business and technology goals associated with managing data and apps across complex IT environments.
With its focus on innovative yet secure workspaces and collaboration with partners, Citrix sees itself as a key enabler of digital transformation for today's enterprises.
