Citrix Acquires Application Delivery Specialist Cedexis

Citrix Systems said Monday it had acquired Cedexis, a Portland, Ore. software developer that optimizes application performance and content delivery across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Cedexis technology dynamically manages network traffic across the Internet to smooth and accelerate the flow of data, making it a good fit for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based virtualization giant, Carl Gersh, director of sales and marketing at Forthright Technology Partners, of Miramar, Fla., told CRN.

"It will add some rocket fuel to Citrix ability to optimize application delivery," Gersh said.

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"It made perfect sense to join forces with the company that is leading the world in helping enterprises accelerate their journey to the cloud. Together with Citrix, we will rapidly increase the pace of innovation in our market," Cedexis CEO Ryan Windham said in a prepared statement.

Citrix Chief Product Officer PJ Hough said the technology integrated into Citrix solutions is needed in a DevOps-oriented world in which applications are built with microservices architectures.

The advent of modern distributed applications "powered by microservices in hybrid and multi-cloud environments demands a new approach to connecting far-flung application users with the information they need, delivered as near to instantaneously as possible," Hough said.

Together, the companies will be at the forefront of a "marketplace ripe for the seismic shifts happening in the worlds of infrastructure and networking," according to the company's announcement.

Citrix, boosted by Cedexis technology, will focus on ensuring streaming video comes in with the same quality as television on a physical cable. And it will work with other technology vendors to make global server load balancing a reality, Hough said.

Cedexis will also benefit Citrix in empowering network architects to better measure data on users, helping them optimize their application deployments.

Hough and Windham also cited a strong alignment of culture between the two companies.

Cedexis fits in nicely with Citrix' larger shift to Citrix Cloud, which is a hybrid solution, Gersh said.

Citrix NetScaler, an SD-WAN technology, does many of the same things, and can optimize networks beyond pure Citrix environments, Gersh, of Forthright, said.

"This should take NetScaler to the next level," Gersh said, "optimizing delivery of apps across any kind of network and any kind of app."

Citrix management tools provide a lot of control and insight over applications being delivered through the XenApp and XenDesktop virtualization platforms, he said.

But IT departments want control over all apps, including those being delivered through a browser, Gersh told CRN.

"That’s where I think this is going to come in," Gersh said, adding that the Cedexis solutions will extend Citrix' ability to optimize delivery of the web apps that run side-by-side with Citrix virtualized environments.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.