- Mythbuster busts his own tale
- 10 open source companies to watch
- Sony recalls 73,000 Vaio laptops
- Tool to evade China's Web censorship
- Chrome and Firefox and add-ons
Newsletters | Podcasts | Chats | Opinions | RSS Feeds | This Week In Print | IT Careers | Community | Reports | Downloads | Slideshows | New Data Center
Partner Sites:App Performance | On Demand Security | Networking Solution | SOA | Value of WDS
LAS VEGAS -- Despite a bad economy and restricted IT spending, it's time for businesses to revamp their networks to deliver better-performing applications more economically, the CEO of Citrix Systems told Wednesday's Interop Las Vegas 2008 keynote audience.
IT costs are fixed, leaving little room for projects that might help improve corporate bottom lines, Mark Templeton said. "We're in a bad spot," he said.
Nevertheless, businesses need to forge ahead with corporatewide IT improvement plans and adopt a software-as-a-service model internally and externally, Templeton said. That will take bold initiatives by IT executives. "I think it’s time to rethink everything we've done with enterprise computing," he said.
Based on recent revenue from his company's Go2Meeting and GotoMyPC services, he sees departments within businesses --not corporate IT departments -- making decisions about how to carry out what would traditionally have been an IT decision. "They're taking matters into their own hands," he said.
Traditional, static network architectures no longer efficiently support far-flung users, customers and applications, Templeton said. "We have to try to leap to a service-oriented infrastructure. It's not optional for a world that's changing as rapidly as it is today," he said. "You need to think in a new way about your role as an IT leader," he added.
He ticked off six features revamped networks need to supply:
* Fast, on-demand, self-service
* User access to applications
* Delivery of a choice of devices, access networks and applications
* Built-in content security and access control
* Dynamic capacity that can be turned up and down with changing demand
* Predictable operational and capital costs
Citrix has promised virtual platforms later this year that will support these goals. By the end of this quarter, the company is expected to release XenDesktop to virtualize desktops; and later this year, Workflow Studio, software that organizes workflows from XenDesktop and other Citrix virtual platforms (XenApp and XenServer) and NetScaler hardware application-acceleration appliances.
This package would make it possible to monitor and coordinate network capacity and performance to deliver applications more efficiently. "You'll be able to observe everything that's happening," Templeton said.

In this whitepaper learn how Retrospective Network Analysis (RNA) has proved a different type of...
SNMP Monitorin One Critical Component to Network ManagementSNMP is a valuable tool to any network administrator who requires complete visibility into the...
Monitoring and Managing App PerformanceThis paper defines application analysis, discusses the different categories of tools on the market,...

Double-Take (r) Software and Microsoft are teaming up on September 9, 2008 for a webinar focusing...
Transforming the Enterprise WAN Edge: Video from CiscoLife on the edge of your WAN has changed dramatically. With the need to deliver advanced services,...
PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE MarketThe standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Archiving, backup and data protection take on ever more critical roles in the enterprise. Data...
The New Network/System Management ChallengesIncreasingly popular technologies such as virtualization, wireless networking and data center...
Virtualization Reality CheckFind out why analysts say approaching virtualization with an ounce of caution is wise. And also why...
Partner Content
Explore the Ultrium Edge
The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.
Find out more
Disk and Tape Square Off
Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization
Download the White Paper
Don't Fall For The Myths
The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.
Download the White Paper
Will You Add Tape Too?
Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.
Download Survey Information
Comment