Published: 8 June, 2012
Citrix has been making an increasing impact on the mobile world with its virtualization platform, and now it is enhancing its appeal to cellcos by acquiring network optimization firm Bytemobile.
The Bytemobile products, which increase the efficiency of multimedia data delivery on cellular networks, will complement Citrix's data center optimization platform, particularly its NetScale application delivery offerings. The purchase is a way for the company to expand that expertise from enterprises into the core of the network.
Wes Wasson, CMO at Citrix, said mobile was the next logical frontier for the company since "the dominant consumption model in the cloud era is going to be through mobile devices." He told NetworkWorld: "As a result of that, having a strategic footprint in mobile operating network is essential."
Citrix says it will retain all Bytemobile's employees and the company will function as a division of itss cloud networking arm. It expects the deal, whose value was undisclosed, to close later this summer.
Bytemobile's flagship products are the Smart Capacity series, though the competition for these is intensifying as major network and back office vendors see the opportunities in the cellcos' rising data loads, and their need to prevent these collapsing their networks. The company has about 130 customers including T-Mobile, Vodafone, MetroPCS, China Mobile and China Telecom.
It has previously collaborated with its new owner. Earlier this year, they incorporated NetScaler technology into Bytemobile's adaptive traffic management system. There may be future work on bringing the newly acquired products closer to Citrix's virtualization and device access platforms too. "We're not making any announcements today about specific integrations with device access and Citrix Receiver," Wasson said. "Obviously there are some clear synergies and you should expect us to be looking closely at those."