Citrix has announced a series of developments for customers operating VMware and looking to move onto XenServer or Microsoft's Hyper-V platforms. Today, 20% of the Fortune 500 use Citrix XenServer and with more than 70% of all virtualization server users now moving to multiple hypervisors, it is clear the market is growing and a definite trend has been established for enterprise class storage solutions.

Citrix has established Project "Open Door" which aims to provide free training and conversion tools for customers looking to move to XenServer, and because of the close connections between Citrix and Microsoft (who own a significant chunk of Citrix), MS Hyper-V has also been included in the offering. Due in part to the collaborative efforts of these two companies, but largely due to the agility, functionality and expandability of the data center using these two solutions, XenServer and Hyper-V dominate the server storage virtualization market - to underline this point, Citrix report that of those customers who activated XenServer, the number has doubled in the last month or in other words, 10% of the Fortune 500 turned XenServer.

By any standards, that is an exceptional achievement.

There are two main reasons why Citrix in particular has cornered the market on virtualization. Firstly, of enterprise class solutions, XenServer meets 100% of the requirements and criteria laid down by user groups and enterprise clients in practice. The second major reason is price - almost all virtualization solution providers have been hiking prices in a price gouging strategy - cost savings with virtualization are significant, positive cash flow advantages accrued as a consequence of reduced data storage costs and enhanced productivity are undeniable - this has led solution providers to attach a premium to the solution when in fact, as Citrix has rightly understood, the cost of virtualization should significantly drop as adoption becomes more commonplace.

A simple dynamic of supply and demand.

Using Citrix XenServer, and especially when coupled with Citrix Essentials, is an excellent way to future-proof your solution. Cloud computing may or may not be coming but with the recent announcement of IBM's Smart Business Cloud Computing solution it is almost a certainty that cloud computing is going to take hold along with the maturing development of SaaS (Software As A Service).

There are also the issues of performance and stability - a low price is great but when several thousand employees are relying on the solution to work every day and every time they log onto the network, price is not the real issue. Virtualization users are finding applications for the technology everyday as the practice becomes accepted and users lead the drive to adapt the technology to meet business needs. A growing number of enterprise class users are seriously planning on using Citrix XenServer to meet their disaster recovery needs - a case of the last gasp saloon when it comes to meeting a primary objective of IT managers - protecting the company data and maintaining an operational network for users.

The Open Door project will operate until the end of March 2010 and via certified Citrix solution providers.