CONNECTIVITY SOFTWARE VENDOR Citrix on Tuesday introduced a new version of its application serving and management platform that is optimized for Windows 2000 and future Microsoft platforms -- including Microsoft's Whistler operating system, which will be released Tuesday as well.

Citrix's MetaFrame software connects client computers to central servers. This thin-client strategy allows businesses to save software licensing costs on workstations by keeping the expensive applications on servers, to be accessed as needed, according to the company. The newest version, MetaFrame XP for Windows, has increased scalability, designed to support as many as 100,000 users on 1,000 or more servers, according Joe Horine, a Citrix spokesman.

MetaFrame XP also includes advanced system management features, Horine said. "One of the things that IT departments like to do is to be able to shadow a user, to troubleshoot from a distance," he said. MetaFrame XP makes this remote troubleshooting easier, as well as making software updates easier, reducing the size of essential IT staff.

Citrix's software will also provide users with secure access to Windows applications from different kinds of devices, over wired, wireless, or Web connections. MetaFrame XP includes better use of networking and more flexible application access compared to previous versions, according to the company.

MetaFrame XP will begin shipping this month, with three versions available: MetaFrame XPs is intended for departmental workgroups to extend the reach of Windows 2000 servers; MetaFrame XPa is for larger or growing organizations; while MetaFrame XPe is the enterprise application-serving edition.

Citrix prices the software on a cost-per-concurrent-connection basis. For new customers, Citrix MetaFrame XPs is priced at $290 per connection with Citrix's Subscription Advantage periodic upgrade and enhancement service and $250 without. MetaFrame XPa is $345 per connection with Subscription Advantage and $300 without. MetaFrame XPe costs $400 per connection with Subscription Advantage and $350 without.

Analysts were generally impressed with the enhancements.

"They've added a lot of new features in the XP product and they've really designed the XP product strongly for the enterprise. They've packaged it so you can grow into the MetaFrame product because they have three package choices," said Tom Manter, research director for Windows 2000 platforms at the Aberdeen Group in Boston.

"The nice thing about the Citrix MetaFrame solution, for a lot of companies, is it allows companies to begin to harness the power of the Internet as they move toward this new Internet application market, as you move toward Web services," Manter said. "This is a stepping stone toward that end result in the near future, and it's a very quick solution for these companies who want to take advantage of [the Microsoft .NET] environment," Manter continued.

However, Manter had one piece of advice for the company.

"What I would recommend for a company like Citrix is to look to the future to build tools to help these MetaFrame customers to migrate to Web services environment," Manter said. "[Citrix] needs more tools or needs to partner with someone who has the tools. The customers will look for ways to get from where they are to the next level of Web services."

InfoWorld

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