Mike D’s Blog

The Citrix Systems-XenSource acquisition has brought disappointment and frustration to some Citrix partners, who said the vendor isn’t being aggressive enough with its server virtualization strategy.

- Via Search Systems Channel

Somehow I told you so just doesn’t cut it. This is the first time I’ve seen some good public documentation backing up my confusion around what the heck is going on with the Citrix acquisition of XenSource. They certainly aren’t making money on this deal. Why they’re not being aggressive with the technology is anyone’s guess.

Brief and to the point.

VMware announces a stellar 42% year over year growth in revenue. Everyone keeps their jobs.

Microsoft announces a flat 2% year over year growth in revenue. 5,000 people lose their jobs.

Citrix announces a marginal 4% year over year growth in revenue. 10% of the company loses their jobs.

Enough said.

Last week Citrix released their earnings for Q3 2008. XenDesktop and XenServer combined to give them $7 million for the quarter. This brought back my initial thoughts of why the purchase of XenSource late last year even makes business sense. I’m not talking technology here since they have a fine product – I’m talking about the business numbers. Personally if I go out and spend $500 million on a company I want to make that money back in at least 3 years so I can start adding to my coffers after that.

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