Citrix Says VMware 'Caught In A Lie' Over Virtualization TCO Claims
At issue is VMware's citation of Gartner figures on server-based computing (SBC) in a jointly issued Feb. 9 press release with Wyse Technology touting the companies' progress in bringing desktop virtualization to schools. "The TCO of an SBC deployment used to deliver all applications to users is 8 percent to 13 percent lower than that of a locked and well-managed PC deployment, and up to 44 to 47 percent lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment," according to the press release.
Harry Labana, Citrix's CTO of desktop and application virtualization, called out VMware on the grounds that SBC has traditionally been associated with Windows Terminal Services, a product that's lacking in VMware's portfolio.
"VMware is clearly inferring that their View platform can deliver this type of TCO," Labana said in a vitriolic Monday blog post.
Labana lambasted VMware for such "underhanded tactics" and said "integrity and ethics seem to be optional at VMware." He also noted that VMware has been called out by industry analysts in the past for using elastic interpretation of the facts.
"How can anybody trust them? This is why I guess they fudge their quarterly desktop financials by hiding VMware Workstation revenues with VDI," Labana said in the blog post.
VMware says the Gartner figures quoted in the press release referred to Wyse's portfolio of thin, zero and cloud PC client solutions, which support both SBC and VDI.
"It is appropriate for Wyse to choose to feature this when talking about their products," the VMware spokesperson said in an e-mail. "VMware's portion of the announcement featured customer momentum and results related to our portfolio of desktop and application virtualization technologies."
VMware leads the server virtualization market by a wide margin, while Citrix claims to account for 70 percent of the desktop virtualization market. VMware is aiming for a larger piece of the desktop pie, so it's not surprising that Citrix would respond with such a public gnashing of teeth to any perceived incursion into its territory.