Citrix (Booth #525)
<< BACK TO WPC EXPO HALL GUIDE
Name: Kyle Benson
Title: Senior Manager, Worldwide Channel Development at Citrix
RCP: What's the elevator pitch for your company to a Microsoft partner?
Benson: Partners for over 22 years, Citrix and Microsoft offer joint solutions that enable more than 230,000 businesses worldwide to reduce costs, increase IT flexibility and agility by centralizing Windows-based applications, desktops and servers in the datacenter; dynamically delivering them to users anywhere, on any device. In recognition of this valued alliance partnership, Microsoft recently awarded Citrix the prestigious Alliance Advanced Infrastructure Partner of the Year Award.
V-Alliance, a joint partner campaign, is for Citrix and Microsoft partners who meet certification requirements and receive special benefits including: marketing collateral, demand generation materials, Web content syndication and proof of concept and pilot funding.
For partners who may not have thought about your company since the last WPC, what would they need to know about what you've been up to for the past 12 months?
Citrix has enabled broad expansion into mobile workstyle and cloud services. Several recent acquisitions have broadened the addressable market opportunity for Citrix and Microsoft products together.
Out of your entire product portfolio, what's the product or service that Microsoft partners should be aware of right now?
Citrix desktop virtualization solutions continue to lead the industry. XenDesktop is a comprehensive desktop virtualization solution that includes all the capabilities required to deliver desktops, apps and data securely to every user in an enterprise. Trusted by the world's largest organizations, XenDesktop has won numerous awards for its leading-edge technology and strategic approach to desktop virtualization. For IT organizations facing tight resource and budget constraints., Citrix VDI-in-a-Box addresses this need with a simple yet robust VDI solution designed to be setup and managed by desktop administrators. With our Citrix Service Provider program, partners have another way to provide desktop virtualization solutions to their customers.
Are you announcing anything at WPC?
Citrix will be spotlighting some of the announcements included in our recent Citrix Summit partner event.
What should Microsoft partners keep an eye out for from your company over the next year?
Project Avalon is a powerful new solution that brings together a wide range of Citrix technologies to help customers deliver any Windows app or desktop as a true cloud service. This allows customers to mix and match different versions of Microsoft Windows Server, Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp and span across any mix of public and private cloud infrastructure to host and deliver powerful, effective work styles for all users.
Why should someone visit your booth this year (free stuff, amazing demo, contest, promotion, etc.)?
Of course there's free stuff! We'll also be hosting a drawing for some super swag, so stop by! We'll be doing demos of Flexible Workstyles solutions, showing how to engage as a Service Provider and amazing attendees with Simple VDI with VDI-in-a-Box.
As a company, what are your goals for WPC this year?
We want to show how our long-term partnership with Microsoft benefits partners that want to enter or grow their profits in the desktop virtualization and mobility market segments. We are a major workload driving Hyper-V and System Center placements and we offer a great migration path for Windows 8, so we want to enable partners to differentiate themselves through our products.
What's the profile of the ideal partner you're hoping to connect with at WPC this year?
The ideal partner wants to grow their business by providing desktop virtualization and mobility solutions coupled with Microsoft infrastructure. Partners that want to offer a simple VDI solution and partners that are interested in going to market as a Citrix Service Provider are invited to come meet with us.
Who are some of your team members a partner might meet at your booth (names and titles)?
Rick Baker, vice president of worldwide sales strategy;
Jason Gradel, director of worldwide Microsoft sales strategy;
Kyle Benson, senior manager of worldwide channel development;
Scott Swanburg, senior director of cloud app delivery sales;
Mike Fouts, senior director, of Americas channels and marketing;
John Sweeney, senior sirector of Americas strategic partners;
Dan Sparks, channel programs manager of cloud app delivery sales;
Gene Schmidt, principal product marketing manager of the Desktop and Apps group.
For partners' post-show follow-up, who should they contact and how (phone number or e-mail address)?
Kyle Benson ([email protected]).
<< BACK TO WPC EXPO HALL GUIDE