1. The growth of the SBC market has considerably slowed down from the 35% - 40% growth rate in 1999 and 2000. What do you foresee for the year 2003 and what will be your core area of focus?

Citrix will continue to focus on its core business in 2003. Specifically, the company will work to drive the standardization of MetaFrame within the enterprise. In addition, Citrix will strongly support the deployment of its access portal product line, and will pursue opportunities to integrate additional complementary technologies as appropriate. One strategy Citrix will pursue to reach these objectives is targeting key vertical areas that represent significant market potential including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, government and education. 

2. 2002 November marked the joining of hands of 4 Market leaders - Citrix, Ingram Micro Inc., Sierra Wireless and Sprint. What is the feedback from customers on the bundled enterprise wireless data solution upon implementation of this new solution? How has it helped maximize the effectiveness of their investments?

Citrix’s mobility solutions empower customers to access all of their applications and information from a familiar interface, anywhere in the world. Citrix technology inherently protects against hacking and information leakage over wireless networks because no actual data is transmitted over the network. Key strokes and mouse movements are the only transmissions that are made between the server and the device – and these are protected through industry-standard SSL encryption technology. As a result, if data were intercepted, it would be of little or no use to the intruder. Also, an additional layer of authentication security for role-based access ensures access for only those who are authorized to certain applications from the server.

In addition, Citrix technology enhances the performance of wireless networks because no actual data is transferred over the network. As a result, rich client/server or legacy applications can be accessed quickly, as they only consume as little as 10 Kbps of network bandwidth. Users experience the same look, feel and performance as if the application were running locally. Citrix is extremely cost-effective when used with a wireless network, as it eliminates the need for rewriting code for wireless devices – a major hurdle for companies looking to move to wireless.

3. CertCities included the Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA) in its second round of annual “10 Hottest Certifications.” How do you think Citrix’s CCEA program helps developers move to the next level of competence?

Citrix’s entry-level certification track, the CCA program, provides training in Citrix products and certifies that technicians have demonstrated knowledge of Citrix MetaFrame for Windows and UNIX operating systems. Citrix’s CCEA program builds on the CCA program and helps developers perfect their skills by requiring them to obtain deep expertise in installing and administering specific functionality including Citrix Management Services, Citrix Load Balancing Services, Program Neighborhood and NFuse Classic.

4. Server-based Computing has garnered a sizeable market share. How do you think it stands as an alternative to the traditional Client-Server Architecture?

Server-based computing offers several major benefits over a traditional client-server architecture:

- Cost-savings. Server-based computing dramatically lowers the costs associated with maintaining an IT infrastructure. In addition to eliminating costly hardware/software upgrades and reducing network downtime, SBC also decreases staffing requirements.

- Enhanced security. Centralized management of IT infrastructures provides additional levels of security by maintaining control on the server level rather than on the desktop.

- Manageability and scaleability. SBC allows organizations to centrally configure and manage servers and server farms anywhere.

- Flexibility. SBC allows access to any application, from any device, over any connection.

5. How different is the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) Client for Mac OS X from other applications running on Mac OS X?

Citrix's ICA technology increases user productivity and reduces IT costs by limiting complexity on the client side. The technology works by separating an application's logic from its user interface, centralizing processing on the server and enabling users to view and work with the application as if it were running locally. Users can choose any device enabled by ICA to access server-based Windows, UNIX and Web applications, sending only keystrokes and mouse clicks over the network to the server and receiving just screen refreshes. By allowing different devices running different operating systems to access the same applications, ICA technology lets Citrix customers stretch their budgets and maximize their investment in existing hardware and software.

The most recent enhancement to the ICA Client for Mac OS X (version 6.30) leverages Apple's innovative Aqua interface, offering users an experience consistent with that of other applications running on Mac OS X.

Additional features of Version 6.30 of the Citrix ICA Client for Mac OS X include:
-- Enhanced Internet Proxy Server Support - When used with Citrix Secure Gateway (CSG), applications can be delivered with enhanced security to any location over the Web.
-- Transport Layer Security Encryption - Supports both Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0, the standardized form of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and SSL.
-- Universal Printer Driver Support - No special printer setup is required on the client device.
-- Multiple Session Support - Users can run multiple connections concurrently without interruption.

6. Some independent market surveys have shown that Citrix came ahead of its competitors last year. Do you anticipate this trend to continue in the New Year or decline marginally?

Citrix is globally recognized as the market leader of server-based computing solutions. Citrix’s primary competition comes from organizations that haven’t been educated about the advantages of server-based computing. While Citrix’s technology has been adopted by 100 of the Fortune 100 and 95% of the Fortune 500 (over 120,000 total customers), the company’s average penetration within these organizations is 5-10%. As a result, Citrix sees enormous room for growth within the market.


7. Citrix has brought out new features of MetaFrame XP including speed, simplicity and support for .NET. How do you think these new features will enable enterprises to drive business potential?

The added features of Citrix MetaFrame XP, Feature Release 3 will drive business potential by allowing administrators and users to perform tasks more quickly and easily. 

The Citrix Universal Print Driver II will allow administrators to use a single, universal print driver on every server in the MetaFrame XP farm. End users will have the ability to print in color and at high resolution (up to 600 dots-per-inch) to any client-mapped printer. In addition, MetaFrame XP, Feature Release 3 will include SpeedScreen™ Browser Acceleration, which introduces major performance and usability improvements for end users connecting to published applications that embed JPEG and GIF images within Microsoft HTML pages.

Administrative support will be enhanced with simplified license activation, which provides a new command line tool called “m-license” that helps simplify the tasks of adding, activating and backing up multiple licenses within a MetaFrame XP environment.

In addition, MetaFrame XP, Feature Release 3 will also tightly integrate with Citrix NFuse Elite, the company’s access portal server, providing the added benefit of allowing users secure and managed access to all of the information and applications they need from a single portal interface.

8. Citrix Cross-industry Solutions address widely recognized information access issues faced by companies across the spectrum. What are the vertical industries targeted by you and how will you leverage the benefits of server based computing across these industries?

Citrix focuses primarily on six vertical industries: education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing and telecommunications. Citrix’s solutions provide all of these audiences with seamless, secure access to applications and information they need to conduct business effectively. Specifically, Citrix Solutions in Education address students, faculty, teachers and administrators who need to access instructional and administrative applications and information required to enable continuous learning. Citrix Solutions in Financial Services addresses the needs of corporate, remote branch office, independent agents and mobile workers, allowing institutions to deploy new services faster, improve customer service, control risk and reduce costs. Citrix Solutions in Government allow public servants to respond to emergencies, recovery from disasters and delivery of basic services. Citrix Solutions in Healthcare ensure greater security, improved productivity, and lower costs. Citrix Solutions in Manufacturing can improve a company’s competitive position by enabling access at the point-of-activity - from shop floor to executive office. Citrix solutions in telecommunications address customer care, billing and OSS applications and information - for greater security, improved productivity, and lower costs.

9. Where does Citrix go from here? What other areas of technology are you looking into to expand your area of activities?

Citrix expects to see a rise in technologies that enable what we call “the virtual workplace.” This means that the office comes to you, instead of you going to the office. The benefits are a more cost-effective and productive workforce which is able to more effectively collaborate regardless of application or service, location, device or network.

Two other top areas are security and business continuity. Since security has been thrust into the forefront, these technologies will emerge as top priorities in fields such as government and healthcare where confidential data needs to be managed, accessed and shared securely across authorized parties. In terms of business continuity, organizations are focused more than ever on strategies to keep their businesses running in the event not only of unplanned downtime, such as natural or man-made disasters, but also planned downtime, such as rolling server maintenance. In short, successful business continuity technologies will move beyond disaster recovery to enable companies to conduct business at all times without disruption.