Are you attending Citrix Synergy 2017 in Orlando, FL?  If so, I invite you to add IGEL to your MUST SEE list of vendors.

IGEL delivers powerful unified endpoint management (UEM) software that is revolutionary in its simplicity and purpose-built for the enterprise. The company's world-leading products, including the IGEL Universal Management Suite, IGEL OS-powered thin and zero clients, and all-in-one thin client solutions, deliver a smart and secure endpoint management experience that shifts granular control of thin and zero client devices from the end user to IT. This enables enterprises to remotely control all thin client devices from a single dashboard interface.

Read this exclusive pre-show interview between VMblog and IGEL to learn what they have planned for Citrix Synergy 2017.

 

VMblog:  As a Citrix Synergy 2017 sponsor, give us the rundown of the IGEL booth presence. What’s your booth number?  What level sponsorship do you have this year?  How big is your booth?  How many people will you send?  Etc.

IGEL:  This year at Citrix Synergy, IGEL will be in Booth #207 showcasing our powerful endpoint management solutions for the secure enterprise. Members of IGEL's Management Team including Heiko Gloge, IGEL's Founder and CEO; Jed Ayres, President and CEO, IGEL North America; Matthias Haas, IGEL's Chief Technology Officer; along with its sales and marketing team will be on-site to meet with customers and partners throughout the event.

Over the past three decades, IGEL has risen to become a world leader in endpoint management, delivering our power software solutions via our thin and zero clients and all-one-thin clients. At our core, it is our innovative software solutions that have driven our success and that of our partners and customers. Revolutionary in simplicity and purpose-built for the enterprise, IGEL software solutions are more intuitive, secure and scalable than any other solution on the market.

IGEL solutions that will be on display at Citrix Synergy 2017 in our booth, Innovation Theatre and elsewhere at the show include:

• IGEL Universal Management Suite^TM (UMS)
• IGEL Universal Desktop Converter^TM (UDC)
• IGEL Cloud Gateway^TM (ICG)
• IGEL UD Pocket^TM micro thin client
• IGEL OS^TM powered thin and zero clients and all-in-one thin client solutions
  

VMblog:  And is there anything interesting or unique about this year's booth setup?   

IGEL:  The past year has been one of many "firsts" for IGEL, and attendees will have an opportunity to learn about a number of these milestones with they visit our booth at Citrix Synergy, which include:

• First time as a Platinum sponsor of Citrix Synergy
• First time IGEL has partnered with Intel to provide Demo Kits to Platinum Level Partners, which are designed for portable, consistent, reliable demonstrations of the entire Citrix Workspace solution stack in the field.
• First time to be selected as Citrix Ready Partner of the Month (May 2017).
• First time to win a 5-Star rating for our channel program in the CRN Partner Program Guide, which was published in April 2017.
• First time we've been recognized as a by CRN in the CRN Women of the Channel Awards. This year, Enit Nichani, IGEL's Director of Marketing for North America is being honored for her leadership in the channel.
• First time we've won a Stevie® Award. The IGEL UD Pocket is taking home the Gold for "Best New Product or Service - Hardware" in the 15^th Annual American Business Awards^SM.
• First time to receive a Channelnomics Innovation Award. In December, we were recognized by the publication as "Emerging Vendor of the Year."
• First time to receive a Tech Innovator Award from CRN. In November, the IGEL UD3-LX and UD3-W7+ thin clients took top honors in the "PC - Workstation/Desktop Category."

   

Additionally, for the first time at Citrix Synergy, IGEL will have an Innovation Theatre inside its booth where attendees will have the opportunity to experience live demos and presentations by IGEL's virtualization technology experts, and representatives from our ecosystem partner organizations including Advantech DLoG, AMD, Imprivata, Lakeside Software, Nutanix, Pivot3, Samsung and Sennheiser. We'll also be featuring presentations from IGEL Platinum Partners Entisys360 and MTM Technologies, both of whom have interesting new offerings which feature IGEL's endpoint solutions.

The schedule for the Innovation Theatre is as follows:

TUESDAY MAY 23               

• 11:00 am - Jeff Kalberg, Technology Evangelist, IGEL        

• 11:30 am - Mike Allen, Manager, Channel Partners, East and Midwest, Advantech DLog

• 12:00 pm - Joshua Robinson, Presales Field System Engineer, IGEL                     

• 12:30 pm - Tim Stanisz, Channel Manager, Lakeside Software

• 1:00 pm - Cameron Madsen, Senior Presales Engineer, IGEL               

• 1:30 pm - Greg Spence, Senior Technology Strategist, Samsung

• 6:30 pm - Jeff Kalberg, Technology Evangelist IGEL     

• 7:00 pm - Bernhard "Benny" Tritsch and Ruben Spruijt, Team RGE

• 7:30 pm - Jeff Feige, Vice President, Field SE North America, IGEL                       

WEDNESDAY MAY 24      

• 12:30 pm - Henrik Thorring, Strategic Alliance Manager, Sennheiser Communications

• 12:00 pm - Jason Hwa, Senior Systems Engineer, Western US and Canada, IGEL           

• 1:30 pm - Bill Kleyman, CTO, MTM Technologies

• 2:00 pm - Alona Kremko, Director of Inside Sales Engineering, IGEL                

• 2:30 pm - Ralph Gonzalez, Worldwide Thin Client Segment Leader, AMD                      

• 3:30 pm - Mike Koponen, Senior Director of Product and Solution Marketing, Pivot3

THURSDAY MAY 25           

• 1:00 pm - Alona Kremko, Director of Inside Sales Engineering, IGEL

• 1:30 pm - Dane Young, Virtualization Practice Manager, Entisys360              

• 2:30 pm - Steve Furstenau, Director, Business Development, Imprivata

• 3:00 pm - Cameron Madsen, Senior Presales Engineer, IGEL

• 3:30 pm - Noah Gingell, Account Manager, Nutanix

• 4:00 pm - Jeff Feige, Vice President, Field SE North America, IGEL
  

VMblog:  What message should an attendee take back with them to their boss after visiting your booth? How can they internally sell your technology?

IGEL:  During Citrix Synergy 2017, one of the most important things that attendees will learn from IGEL is how to harness the power of our industry-leading unified endpoint management solutions to deliver a simple, smart and secure end-user computing experience. Key initiatives for many enterprises in the coming year include:

• Securing the endpoint
• Migrating to Windows 10
• Cloud onboarding

IGEL has the ability to be a significant enabler for each of these initiatives, and this is one of the key messages from Citrix Synergy that attendees will want to take back to their boss.

VMblog:  Why should a Synergy attendee add you to their MUST SEE list? 

IGEL:  Three of the top reasons that partners and customers will want to visit the IGEL booth during Citrix Synergy 2017 include:

1. See Citrix Technology Professionals and members of TeamRGE, Bernhard "Benny" Tritsch and Ruben Spruijt leverage the IGEL Universal Desktop^TM thin clients and the IGEL UD Pocket to demonstrate highlights from new test scenarios they have executed using the latest graphics GPU solutions offered by NVIDIA, Intel and AMD.
2. Enter to win a Tesla P100D by completing a short survey on-site at Citrix Synergy and attending a 30-minute demonstration either during the event, or before the IGEL Tesla Sweepstakes, sponsored by AMD and Samsung, ends on August 30, 2017.
3. Enter for a chance to win a GLION Foldable Electric Scooter valued at $849. Visit igeltesla.com, enter code MCO02, complete survey and demo by Synergy and you will automatically be entered for a chance to win this state-of-the-art scooter that IGEL will be raffling off at Synergy.

VMblog:  I know this isn't your first Synergy event as a sponsor.  What keeps you coming back?

IGEL:  We've been attending and sponsoring this event for many years. What brings us back each year is the strong alliances we have with Citrix and its ecosystem partners.

VMblog:  Why is this a must sponsor event for your company?

IGEL:  For many years now, IGEL Technology has maintained very strong ties with Citrix and is an integral part of the Citrix ecosystem. 

During 2016, for example, IGEL's endpoint management solutions were used in more than 1,200 Citrix customer briefings to drive sales. Additionally, Citrix is currently leveraging IGEL to power eight Citrix Executive Briefing Centers (EBCs) across the globe, eight Citrix Experience Centers in the Asia Pacific region, 12 SE lab environments, five test lab environments, one SE remote EBC, and in demonstration environments at Citrix Summit and Citrix Synergy events.

Our participation in Citrix Synergy provides us the opportunity to build greater awareness for IGEL. It is a "must-sponsor" event for us because each year we are able to reconnect with many of our channel partners and customers, and always walk away with a great list of new prospects for the coming year.

VMblog:  Give readers a few reasons why your product is considered unique.

IGEL:

• Only IGEL has a solution for ANY 64-bit x86 endpoint:
• Thin and zero client devices
• All-in-One thin client devices - we partner with Samsung
• IGEL OS on a stick - plug it in to convert any PC into an IGEL-powered endpoint
• PC Converter software (UDC) - install it to convert any PC into an IGEL-powered endpoint
• Only IGEL offers endpoint management with more than 7,000 control settings and more than 100 templates to help IT improve productivity and speed time to value.
• Only IGEL offers a secure OS with a custom partitioning (ask us why that is important at the show!)
• Only IGEL UMS enables enterprises to remotely control all of their endpoints from a single dashboard interface.

VMblog:  How does your company and product fit within the Citrix ecosystem?

IGEL:  IGEL's unified endpoint management solutions, including the IGEL Universal Desktop thin clients, IGEL IZ^TM-series zero clients, IGEL all-in-one thin client solutions, and the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter can all be used to deliver Citrix virtual desktops and virtual applications to end-users.

VMblog:  What are you looking forward to most at this year's event?

IGEL:  This year, we are looking forward to connecting with our partners and customers and will also be hosting quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with Platinum level partners, as well as invitation-only meetings with our Advisory Councils including the Marketing Advisory Council (MAC), the Partner Advisory Council (PAC), and our Customer Advisory Council (CAC).

In our view, education is also a very important aspect of the sales and marketing process, and we are looking to identify new synergies between our two companies. We know that there are many areas of overlap that we can capitalize on, but we would also like to identify areas where we could further expand our education efforts together in order to build greater credibility, and continue to grow our partnership with Citrix.

VMblog:  What do you hope to come away with from exhibiting at Synergy?  What does event success look like to you?

IGEL:  A successful Citrix Synergy means that we will leave having had many conversations with partners, customers and IT administrators who currently face challenges when it comes to running their mixed infrastructure environments. We look forward to demonstrating our proven expertise in workspace management, and effectively communicating the benefits we offer for Citrix and VDI environments.

VMblog:  Attendees always enjoy a good trade show tchotchke.  Are you guys giving away anything special or interesting this year?

IGEL:  IGEL will be giving away IGEL UD Pocket Demo Sticks, while supplies last, as well as an IGEL and MTM Technologies water bottle that will help to keep attendees hydrated as they travel between the show floor, meetings and educational sessions. Also, back by popular demand we will have a limited quantity of IGEL hedgehogs, available on a first come, first serve basis.

 

VMblog:  Are you guys throwing or involved with any type of party during the event?  Can you share the details? 

IGEL:  Partners and customers are invited to enjoy a taste of Latin nightlife and explore the heritage, art, music flavors and traditions of Cuba after hours during a Happy Hour event co-hosted by IGEL, Ivanti and Nutanix at Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar. To register for this event, click here https://go.ivanti.com/Q2-Citrix-Synergy_LP.html?r=igel.

Additionally, IGEL's Tech Community Insider program led by Doug Brown, Global Technology Evangelist for IGEL will be hosting a Happy Hour sponsored by Lakeside Software on Wednesday, May 24 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Orange County Convention Center, West Concourse Room W2017. To Register for this event, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drinks-nibbles-tickets-33737042402.

Last, but not least, IGEL will also be a sponsor again this year for the M7 Global Partners party. One of the most talked about events at Citrix Synergy, this year's theme is M7 Miami Vice and we'll be displaying the Tesla P100D in all its glory.  

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Make sure to visit with IGEL while at Citrix Synergy this year to find out more!  And definitely make sure to grab one of those IGEL UD Pocket Demo Sticks, while supplies last. And of course, I plan to get there early to snag another hedgehog... which are popular in my household.