"By this measure, the XenSource acquisition has been a
success. Citrix has rolled out an enterprise-class virtualization
portfolio based on Xen and changed its pricing model, giving away
XenServer and focusing on selling virtualization management
capabilities.
""There are two ways to measure any acquisition. The first is
pure revenue growth. The second is how much incremental growth it
adds to the entire product portfolio," Babineau said. "With Citrix
it's tough to measure. Xen certainly fits well in their portfolio,
but how much growth is it driving? It's hard to say."
"Even so, Enterprise Strategy Group believes this was a smart
acquisition. Virtualization blends well with Citrix's other product
offerings, and server virtualization as a technology gets a boost
by having someone well versed in the enterprise software market
championing it.
"When Citrix started giving away XenServer, there were plenty of
critics claiming this was a desperate move. Babineau believes the
opposite is true. "When we see a vendor stop investing in
technology from an acquisition, we know the acquisition failed. You
don't see that with Citrix and Xen. They're committed."
