What is “citrix”?

The first question usually asked by the Accidental Citrix Admin is “what is citrix?”.  There are two ways the term “citrix” is used: as a specific product or as the name of a company which provides that product.  Usually when “citrix” is mentioned, the term is referring to software used to allow multiple user access to one or more applications hosted on another computer (normally a server).  The company, Citrix, refers to that capability as Application Virtualization. The product which provides that capability is now called XenApp, and it was rebranded to that name in February 2008.  Before then it was called:

• Presentation Server (2005)
• MetaFrame XP Presentation Server (2003)
• MetaFrame XP (2001)
• MetaFrame (1998)
• MultiWin (1997)
• WinFrame (1995)
• WinView (1993)
• Citrix Multi-User (1991)
• Citrix MULTIUSER OS/2 (1990)

Looking at this product name timeline, we can expect a different name in 2010!

Citrix, the company, was founded in 1989 and I started working with MULTIUSER OS/2 in late 1989 or early 1990.  There were still vertical market application vendors using that product as late as the summer of 2003.  Citrix is primarily known for their Application Virtualization product XenApp but there are 22 distinct products listed on the MyCitrix.com web page:

• Citrix Cloud Center
• Citrix Delivery Center
• Access Essentials
• Access Gateway
• Application Firewall
• Branch Repeater
• Command Center
• EasyCall
• EdgeSight
• GoToAssist
• GoToMeeting
• GoToMyPC
• GoToWebinar
• NetScaler
• Password Manager
• Provisioning Server Datacenters
• Provisioning Server Desktops
• WANScaler
• Workflow Studio
• XenApp
• XenDesktop
• XenServer

What is Citrix?  Citrix is a company that offers a wide range of products to serve almost any application delivery need a business may have.  From the smallest business to the largest global spanning corporations, Citrix has products to help deliver your applications to your users in the most cost efficient manner possible.