Citrix Brings Optimized Delivery of Web Applications to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises with Newest NetScaler Release

Business Wire, Oct 10, 2005

LAS VEGAS -- New Edition of Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Solution to be Sold through Citrix Channel Partners Worldwide

Today at its 8th annual business and technology conference, Citrix iForum(TM) Global 2005, Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS), the global leader in access infrastructure solutions, announced a new edition of its popular application delivery product line targeted specifically for the needs of small-to-medium enterprises. For the first time, enterprises of all sizes can now take advantage of the same technology that powers many of the world's largest and most demanding Web applications, including customers such as Google, E*Trade, MSN, Merrill Lynch, Dow Jones, 7-Eleven and United Airlines. The new Citrix(R) NetScaler(R) Application Switch Standard Edition (SE), available today from certified Citrix channel partners worldwide, offers high-speed load balancing and application acceleration in an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution that can be upgraded to include more sophisticated optimization capabilities as needed.

In recent years, Web applications have become increasingly mission-critical for mid-sized organizations. As these companies deploy packaged applications such as Oracle, PeopleSoft and Siebel, as well as custom-built applications based on BEA WebLogic or IBM WebSphere, they face growing problems with poor performance, reliability and security. Unlike their large enterprise counterparts, however, mid-sized companies often do not have the IT resources or budget to support the best-in-class technology solutions.

The newest Citrix NetScaler product addresses the growing demand for easy-to-use and cost-effective application delivery solutions. Like its more comprehensive Enterprise Edition counterpart, the new Standard Edition delivers layer 4-7 load balancing, application optimization, SSL offload capabilities and application security features - all managed by a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) or powerful command line interface (CLI).

"Businesses of all sizes are looking for more flexible ways to optimize their network architectures so they can take full advantage of new technologies such as VoIP, streaming video and Web applications," said Lucinda Borovick, program director for IDC's Datacenter Networks program. "From large enterprises that are seeking to replace aging content switches and load balancing gear down to small and medium-sized businesses that need a value-minded approach to enhance performance and boost security, the Citrix NetScaler Application Switch SE is an ideal solution to provide the best access experience at the lowest total cost of ownership."

The NetScaler Application Switch SE is deployed in front of application servers to provide layer 4-7 traffic management and application acceleration. In addition to improving the end-user experience, the NetScaler Application Switch SE offloads compute-intensive processes - such as secure socket layer (SSL) security and HTTP data compression - from application servers, enabling existing resources to support more applications and more users. It also can monitor the health of application resources and direct traffic to available servers to improve business continuity.

The NetScaler Application Switch SE also integrates proven protections against common and damaging Web security threats, including denial of service (DoS) attacks, buffer overflow attempts and worm-based infiltrations. Unlike competing solutions, the Citrix NetScaler solution can block application attacks with no performance impact to legitimate application traffic.

"For the first time ever, enterprises of all sizes can take advantage of the same technology that powers the largest and most demanding Web applications in the world," said B.V. Jagadeesh, group vice president and general manager, Application Networking Group, Citrix Systems. "The NetScaler Application Switch SE is the only product on the market that delivers a 'best access experience' for small and mid-sized enterprises, regardless of their application infrastructure."

Pricing and Availability

The Citrix NetScaler Application Switch SE will be sold by Citrix's extensive channel of partners worldwide. It is currently available worldwide beginning at a SRP of $17,499 for a single unit, and $29,995 for a high availability pair. AppCompress is a separately licensed feature providing high performance HTTP data compression. Citrix is also providing its channel partners with a detailed "best practices" deployment guide for the NetScaler Application Switch SE. The new guide provides reference architectures of common deployment scenarios, helping partners identify solution opportunities for new and existing Citrix customers.

About Citrix

Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and most trusted name in on-demand access. More than 160,000 organizations around the world use the Citrix Access Platform to provide the best possible access experience to any application for any user. Citrix customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 98% of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and individuals. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Citrix annual revenues in 2004 were $741 million. Learn more at www.citrix.com.