Citrix Systems, Inc, the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, and Dell Inc. today announced a partnership to make server virtualization technology a reality for customers of all sizes. By offering Citrix XenServer™ OEM Edition across Dell’s PowerEdge server line in the coming year, the companies will bring built-in, easy-to-use virtual machine installation and management to millions of Dell customers worldwide.

“Our goal is to simplify IT for our customers. By integrating standards-based software such as XenServer on our server platforms, we’ll be able to remove the cost and complexity associated with virtualization technology-delivering choice and flexibility while making it ubiquitous for customers of all sizes,” said Rick Becker, vice president of solutions, Dell Product Group. “This is a simplified, business-ready solution where customers can install and manage virtual machines almost immediately upon start up, then easily upgrade to a broad, multi-server solution as soon as they are ready.”

"We are pleased to sign such a significant agreement with Dell. This agreement will leverage Dell's leadership in the server market, providing Citrix XenServer products with broad reach into the millions of Dell customers worldwide," said Frank Artale, vice president of business development for Citrix Systems. "Helping customers achieve ten minutes to Xen has been our goal from the beginning, and an embedded hypervisor helps further simplify virtualization by allowing customers to work with their existing server vendors and providing them with a frictionless experience."

As part of the agreement, Citrix XenServer will support Dell OpenManage™ and Dell will offer the more comprehensive multi-server Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition as a standalone product or as an easy software license key upgrade from the embedded XenServer OEM Edition. Additionally, XenServer OEM Edition and XenServer Enterprise will be tested, qualified, and supported by Dell.

This offering with Citrix and XenServer reinforces Dell’s drive to Simplify IT and deliver complete business-ready virtualization solutions to customers with server and storage offerings designed from the ground up to be optimized for virtualization deployments. Dell virtualization and assessment services help customers design and implement practical, reliable and comprehensive virtualization solutions for current and future needs with lower TCO and a single point of accountability.

“Dell has created a valuable addition to its servers by including Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition as part of its solution,” said John S. Lawler II, systems administrator at ATS Ohio Inc. “I have watched the product mature at a head spinning rate over the past year and continue to be excited at what the future holds with product enhancements and expansion of the entire XenServer product line.”

Citrix XenServer OEM Edition is fully compatible and license-key upgradeable to Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition. Introduced in August 2007, Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition 4 includes XenMotion™ for live migration of running virtual machines; XenCenter™, a scalable, resilient virtual infrastructure management framework integrated into every host; an open, standards-based XenAPI that enables ISVs and OEMs to develop add-on solutions for XenServer Enterprise Edition; and, a powerful 64-bit hypervisor that supports both 32- and 64-bit enterprise workloads.

To ensure an easy upgrade and uninterrupted access to these added-value features, both Citrix XenServer OEM Edition and Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition will be resident in firmware on the system.

Pricing and Availability

Dell expects to begin shipping servers embedded with Citrix XenServer OEM Edition in Q1 2008.

Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition 4 is available now. Pricing for Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition starts at $1,599 for an annual subscription license per dual socket server, and $2,499 perpetual license per dual socket server. Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition can also be purchased directly from Dell or an authorized reseller. For more information, visit: http://www.dell.com/virtualization.