Today, Cloud Software Group Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have announced a new eight-year strategic partnership agreement. This agreement will enhance the collaboration of the Citrix virtual desktop and application platform and focus on developing new artificial intelligence and cloud solutions through an integrated product roadmap. Cloud Software Group will invest $1.65 billion in Microsoft’s cloud and generative AI capabilities as part of this partnership.
The alliance between Citrix and Microsoft, which has been in place for a long time, will benefit from this new agreement. Citrix will be the preferred Microsoft Global Azure Partner solution for Enterprise Desktop as a Service for joint Azure customers. The companies will work together to support customers, offering tailored solutions, expert guidance, and support to help customers transition to the cloud. Citrix will utilize Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud solution, providing customers with the benefits of the Citrix platform along with Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. This collaboration will also provide customers with easier procurement options through the Azure Marketplace.
The goal of this partnership is to empower organizations with secure and innovative solutions to enhance productivity as they adopt flexible work models. Citrix’s CEO, Sridhar Mullapudi, highlighted the importance of combining the strengths of Citrix and Microsoft to deliver value and innovation to customers. Additionally, Hector Lima, director of Citrix revenue, emphasized how the simplification of cloud and platform licenses will make joint solutions with Microsoft more accessible to customers.
The collaboration will also focus on increasing productivity and driving innovations in AI. Cloud Software Group engineering teams will utilize GitHub Copilot to enhance developer productivity and accelerate research and development efforts. Spotfire, another business unit of Cloud Software Group, has introduced a new Spotfire Copilot extension based on the Microsoft Azure OpenAI service to help customers analyze their data more efficiently.
As part of this partnership, all Cloud Software Group employees will transition to Microsoft 365 to leverage the productivity and AI tools offered by the platform. This transition aims to facilitate collaboration and joint go-to-market activities between the two companies.
Overall, the strategic partnership between Cloud Software Group and Microsoft will focus on customer success through cloud and AI adoption. With Microsoft 365 as the collaboration platform and Microsoft Azure as the preferred cloud solution, Citrix is well-positioned to deliver transformative solutions at scale for their customers. This partnership has been welcomed by organizations like Providence, who see it as an opportunity to advance their own transformation journey.
Article Source
https://news.microsoft.com/2024/04/04/cloud-software-group-and-microsoft-sign-eight-year-strategic-partnership-to-bring-joint-cloud-solutions-and-generative-ai-to-more-than-100-million-people/