SD-WAN fast catching up with WAN virtualization

In an exclusive interview with VARINDIA, Eklavya Bhave, Head Partner Strategy & Sales India & SAARC Region - Citrix Systems India  spoke about how SDN is fast catching up and how SD-WAN technology with integrated WAN virtualization and optimization capabilities can help increase the performance and reliability of mission critical apps for the remote users. 

Software-defined networking (SDN) has been the buzzword within enterprise IT. One of the first places that SDN is proving valuable is with the enterprise-wide area network (WAN); so much so that the term SD-WAN has been coined to refer to this important segment of software-defined networking. 

SD-WAN is more than just a new acronym, rather it is a recent networking concept full of innovation and investment. The workplace of today has evolved such that enterprises are relying upon a wide array of mission-critical applications, delivered from the data center or Internet, that help them run their businesses more efficiently, while also maintaining tight control over data security. SD-WAN as a new approach provides cost-efficient, reliable, secure, and effective application delivery by means of its wide area network design and operation.

While offering a comprehensive, end-to-end solution, Citrix also supports enterprise customers who wish to maintain a multi-vendor environment and actively collaborates with partners to provide added support. True enough, Citrix’s NetScaler SD-WAN ensuring better user experience at the branch and mobile level are just as rich and seamless as at headquarters. This is catching up really fast among the customers. 

Talking about the company’s expansion plans, Eklavya Bhave, Head Partner Strategy & Sales India & SAARC Region - Citrix Systems India said that with a strong global leadership, Citrix is getting more aligned towards the product lines it is focused on and then expand accordingly. “We do virtualization at all levels- server, desktop and application and we have been the leaders for years and now there is increased focus on networking. With our flagship product Netscaler, a product family for networking which includes capabilities of application delivery controller, unified gateway, Application Firewall and SDWAN, we are addressing large market need,” he said.

Citrix is targeting the larger section in the industry including SMB, Banks and enterprises with multiple branches. “The distributed enterprise requires a solution that ensure users remain connected at all times. They look for a solution that strengthens security which provides end-to-end visibility without adding complexity. For them, Netscaler SD-WAN is that solution,” he said.

Talking about Citrix Cloud, (formerly Citrix Workspace Cloud) it is a control plane to manage all Citrix technologies. This cloud-based approach means reduced infrastructure, centralized control and SaaS-style updates, contributing to lower administration cost and complexity. “Citrix Cloud is helping our customers and partners find the best way to deliver a Citrix environment using any cloud or infrastructure,” Eklavya added. 

Market strategy…

Citrix is a full-fledged channel focused company. It has a strong ecosystem of partners who engage with it for successful execution and implementation of products and solutions. Looking at the pace of growth and momentum in new technologies, Citrix is planning to add more partners.

“Globally, we have benchmarked ourselves against other companies in the tech industry, to make sure that our Channel programs and incentives are very attractive for Partners. Our constant endeavor is to make our channel incentives and programs partner friendly,” he explained.

 Citrix is working with various government and PSU agencies in the sectors of mobility, virtualization, networking and security requirements. “Frankly speaking, we are very focused on government sector now because of the various opportunities that are coming up like Smart City, Make in India and Digital India initiatives. Our participation into latest projects in India enforces our belief that it’s the way to go,” Eklavya concludes.