October 17, 2012, 10:47 AM — Cisco will reference sell Citrix's NetScaler application delivery controller as part of an expanded relationship between the two companies to address cloud and mobile opportunities.
The NetScaler ADC will replace Cisco's Application Control Engine (ACE) product in cloud-based application performance requirements. Cisco recently announced that it would discontinue further development of the ACE product after losing more than half of its market share in ADCs over the past four years to F5, Citrix and other players.
It was speculated this week that Cisco would sell the Citrix products in an OEM capacity as a prelude to perhaps acquiring the NetScaler assets from Citrix. The companies would not comment on that speculation but said the reference sale arrangement is instead a prelude to a deeper NetScaler integration into the Cisco product line.
HOW IT ALL CAME TO BE: Gaining speed, Citrix buys NetScaler
The companies also plan to integrate Cisco's collaboration products with Citrix's CloudGateway and Xen Desktop virtualization offerings; and Cisco's ONE programming environment, Unified Computing and Nexus data center switches with Citrix's CloudPlatform orchestration engine and XenServer products.
The developments expand on a partnership the two companies forged two years ago and reinforced last year, with Cisco supporting Citrix XenDesktop on its VXC 6215 thin client and VXC 4000 software; and enhancing its WAAS WAN acceleration appliance to support high-definition Citrix XenDesktop HDX virtual desktops.
NetScaler will be referenced sold by Cisco into accounts where application acceleration is required for cloud networking. Cisco and Citrix intend to jointly integrate NetScaler with other Cisco network and security services, such as WAAS and the Adaptive Security Appliance firewall.
