Citrix said integrating the Tarpon technology into its core server will simplify deployment of applications on-demand and strengthen Citrix's evolving identity as a leading application delivery infrastructure provider.
Citrix's Tarpon component will be available as an add on-service in Presentation Server at an attractive price point, Citrix said. Users also have the option of deploying Tarpon-only licenses.
"All the bits and bytes for Tarpon are completely integrated into Presentation Server 4.5," said Sumit Dhawan, director of product management for Citrix's Virtual Systems Group. "If you're a channel partner, the rollout of this technology is much easier from one platform than buying another application streaming product."
AppStream, another major application streaming player, launched its version 5.0 platform in late July. The Palo Alto, Calif., company's platform is a streaming solution that allows any Windows application to be executed on a desktop without being installed locally.
AppStream, backed by corporate investors including Goldman Sachs, Sun Microsystems and CA, partners with VMware and Ardence for virtualization. Ardence, NeoWare and Wyse also offer software streaming by delivering the PC image to the client. Ardence's platform, for example, streams both the OS and applications from a hard disk.
The competition dynamics are heating up. In May, StreamTheory, Irvine, Calif., which markets AppExpress, filed a patent infringement case against its powerful rivals, Microsoft Softricity, AppStream and Exent Technologies, Bethesda, Md.
There's a sizable opportunity for VARs and managed services providers, vendors say. Microsoft, Citrix, AppStream, StreamTheory, Altiris and Ardence are all recruiting partners to sell and support their app virtualization solutions.
In recent years, as VMware has paved the virtualizaton market on the server side, VARs have become more familiar with the technology. Citrix's channel was introduced to Project Tarpon during the company's annual Solutions Summit Event in the first quarter. In April, Citrix launched the Tarpon Alpha program for Citrix VARs worldwide, the company said.
Citrix's partners say Tarpon's integration into Presentation Server gives them a strong sales and upgrade opportunities.
"There are other streaming products on the market, but being able to have one management platform to provision applications and cover virtually any access scenario is really powerful," MTM's Mangus said. "Softricity is one of [the other solutions], and we have lots of experience with it. The problem is it doesn't solve nearly as many access problems as Citrix does. So when you combine them both and just use SoftGrid for streaming, you end up with a really expensive solution."
