It’s great to hear that Citrix has finally bowed to market
demands and acknowledged that software is the right delivery model for an Application Delivery Controller such as their Netscaler ADC. Many of Zeus’ own
customers have standardized on virtual infrastructure and have been running our
ZXTM Virtual Appliance since it was launched in November 2006, and Zeus have been developing software ADCs since ZXTM's first public beta in November 2003. Citrix’s
recent announcement that they intend to enter the market with a virtual
appliance in Q3 2009 validates the 5+ years of investment Zeus has made to date in this market.
Zeus is, and always has been, the only company to focus
exclusively on software application delivery controllers. We’re adamantly
platform agnostic, providing ZXTM software for any modern Linux, for Solaris
and FreeBSD, and our customers run ZXTM on a range of virtualization platforms,
including Xen, VMware, Solaris LDOMs, HyperV, OracleVM and Amazon EC2. Our experience has led us to learn that users value choice, and the
ability to migrate their application from physical platforms to virtual or
cloud environments (at no cost) is critical to avoiding lock-in to any
infrastructure platform. Citrix’s decision to restrict Netscaler VPX to
XenServer is understandable and will support organizations who have chosen to
standardize on Citrix technologies throughout. However, XenServer has a very small share of the virtualization market, so this limits customer choice and is something they will need to review if they intend to make any impact in
the software ADC market.
It will be interesting to learn how Citrix position and
price Netscaler VPX to avoid undercutting their very-high-margin hardware MPX
device (that 'slashes datacenter costs' at $180,000 a pair). Offering a virtual appliance alternative
may prove to be a trojan horse if customers realise that the only different
between VPX and MPX is a low-end Intel server with a couple of acceleration
ASICs.
Trying to position VPX as just suitable for SMB customers
won’t work for them, as major enterprises have found that the performance of
software such as ZXTM far outstrips
hardware appliances, and the price is just too compelling. However, by
restricting VPX to a second-tier virtualization platform, they may find they
cannot realize the full performance potential of their software, and that’s
without considering TrafficScript, Java Extensions, a comprehensive API and
Event Handling framework and a wide feature set in ZXTM software that far
outstrips the capabilities of Netscaler MPX hardware in many respects
today. Perhaps positioning VPX as a low-end SMB product is a necessary choice Citrix cannot avoid.
Citrix wisely have identified that a software version of the
Netscaler ADC is a great way to “give development teams who best understand the
unique requirements of each application easy access to NetScaler
functionality”. Zeus knows that application developers are key to
realizing the potential of modern ADC devices, and locking ADCs away in an
inaccessible datacenter and wrapping them with layers of bureaucracy and change
control blunts their value. We acknowledged this when we made ZXTM available
at no cost for development purposes, added a Plugin for the Eclipse IDE, and Zeus’ ZXTM KnowledgeHub has supported application developers with deployment tips, TrafficScript rules
and performance articles since 2006.
Citrix’s announcement is further confirmation, if that were needed, that datacenter administrators are throwing away their overpriced, overheating, overhyped hardware appliances and moving to cleaner, greener, more cost effective virtual appliances. We look forward to talking to anyone running legacy hardware ADC appliances as they question their investment in hardware and consider going software or virtual instead.
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