OK Labs and Citrix Empower BYO Device Strategy for Mobile-to-Enterprise Virtualization (M2E)

May 05, 2009

Global Leaders in Mobile Phone Virtualization and Application Delivery Solidify Partnership to Enable Mobile Access to Enterprise and Desktop Applications

Chicago - May 5, 2009 - Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs) and Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), today announced plans to provide a set of solutions for delivering enterprise applications to mobile devices based on mobile-to-enterprise virtualization (M2E). This strategy builds on Citrix's recent investment in OK Labs and reinforces the companies' shared vision of virtualization for all devices, from Windows desktops and netbooks, to smartphones and mobile internet devices. The combined technologies, including Citrix application delivery infrastructure and the OKL4 mobile phone virtualization solution, will provide easily deployed and securely managed access to enterprise and desktop applications from wireless devices.

Together, OK Labs and Citrix will enable endusers to leverage a single device by moving between corporate and personal worlds without risk of compromising company data, applications, or networks. Mobile-to-enterprise virtualization will also enable user personalization preferences and a “bring your own device” (BYOD) option to the corporate environment.

OK Labs and Citrix are uniquely positioned to comprehensively extend enterprise application delivery onto the broadest range of mobile devices. OK Labs already goes to market with mobile network operators, device OEMs, OS vendors, and semiconductor suppliers and Citrix’s enterprise reach and channel will be a perfect vehicle to consume the capabilities of the OK Labs enabled mobile devices.

“Citrix has 100 million daily users and the OKL4 microvisor is already deployed in over 300 million devices,” said Steve Subar, President and CEO of OK Labs. “The intersection between OK Labs sizeable deployment in handsets -- from Sony Ericsson, HTC, Motorola, Toshiba, LG and others -- and the Citrix mobile device technology available -- for iPhone, Windows Mobile, RIM and Symbian phones -- creates new opportunities across the mobile/internet ecosystem, from MNOs, to handset OEMs, semiconductor suppliers, and enterprise IT.”

Extending application delivery to mobile devices is the next logical play for virtualization, one that highlights tangible benefits for mobile phone users. “Working together on mobile-to-enterprise virtualization (M2E), Citrix and OK Labs will enable handset OEMs, MNOs, or enterprises to deliver enterprise applications and content to any mobile device through an OK Labs implementation of Citrix Receiver for the OK Labs mobile phone virtualization platform,” said Martin Duursma, Vice President, Citrix Labs. “Today’s announcement broadens the Citrix vision of Project Independence for local desktop virtualization and desktop computing and applies it to enterprise application and desktop delivery into mobile devices.”

Why virtualization for mobile devices?

“As virtualization reaches out from the server room to make the desktop just another enterprise infrastructure asset, these handheld devices will be next,” said Rachel Chalmers, research analyst at 451 Group. “They're easily capable of functioning as mobile enterprise application end-points. They're going to need exactly the same kinds of security, policy enforcement and central manageability as anything else in the modern, Web 2.0-friendly, regulatory-compliant enterprise.”

Who will benefit from mobile-to-enterprise virtualization (M2E)?

  • Enterprise IT by addressing corporate security requirements for corporate data, while meeting end-user personalization preferences
  • Mobile phone users with the ability to quickly navigate, open, view, and get secure access to content and applications in the corporate partition of the mobile phone, while maintaining ability to move between personal and corporate worlds with a single mobile device of their choice (BYOD)
  • Handset OEMs and their channels through reduced costs and development time and by growing device sales to the enterprise
  • Semiconductor suppliers who can save time/money when a common and consistent software architecture is portable across a broad range of processor platforms
  • Mobile network operators by generating revenues from enterprise services pushed to mobile phones

Open Kernel Labs

Open Kernel Labs is the global leader in open source virtualization software for mobile devices, consumer electronics and embedded systems. Backed by the largest, independent team of microkernel developers, the OKL4 microvisor is deployed on more than 300 million mobile phones worldwide. Chipset suppliers, handset OEMs, and mobile network operators depend on OK Labs to deliver high performance solutions that decrease BOM cost, reduce complexity and speed time-to-market.

For information on the OK Community, please visit the Community Portal, participants can join the Developer's Mailing List.

About Citrix

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is the leading provider of virtualization, networking and software as a service technologies for more than 230,000 organizations worldwide. Its Citrix Delivery Center, Citrix Cloud Center (C3) and Citrix Online Services product families radically simplify computing for millions of users, delivering applications as an on-demand service to any user, in any location on any device. Citrix customers include the world’s largest Internet companies, 99 percent of Fortune Global 500 enterprises, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers worldwide. Citrix partners with over 10,000 companies worldwide in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1989, annual revenue in 2008 was $1.6 billion.

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Open Kernel Labs, OK Labs and Secure HyperCell™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Kernel Labs or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Citrix® is a trademark of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Chris Walker
Connect Public Relations
(801) 373-7888
chrisw@connectpr.com

Marti Konstant
Open Kernel Labs
(312) 933-0101
marti@ok-labs.com

Karin Gilles
Citrix Systems
(406) 790-8634
karin.gilles@citrix.com

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