Microsoft’s gearing up to hit the road in a 100-city whistle stop tour to promote its latest virtualization push, and Citrix is going along for the ride. The two companies have come forward with details about their new partnership, which is taking direct aim at VMware with new licensing offers designed to lower the barriers to adoption in the enterprise.
Server Watch has the details about Microsoft’s joint venture with Citrix, which kicks off the promotion with a new virtual desktop interface.
Microsoft announced new licensing options around its various virtualization technology offerings this week, along with several technology changes aimed at lowering barriers to adoption of the company’s virtualization products.
At the top of the list is a marketing promotion aimed at undercutting VMware View by letting customers trade in as many as 500 licenses at no extra cost to move to a solution Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is offering jointly with Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS).
The two companies also announced a virtual desktop interface (VDI) “kick start” promotion that lets customers who buy into the joint solution get up to half off the retail price.
The announcements centered around Microsoft’s emphasis that its approach to virtualization is different from others’ “one size fits all” strategies — specifically, VMware’s.