Citrix To Offer HDX System-On-A-Chip

Citrix has announced plans to deliver its HDX technology as part of a system-on-a-chip, in a bid to drive adoption of desktop virtualisation.

HDX is a set of capabilities that delivers a “high definition” desktop virtualisation experience to end users for any application, device or network. By incorporating Citrix HDX technology directly into the silicon, Citrix claims it can deploy HDX on non-traditional devices like network monitors, kiosks and hospital workstations, without the need for a full PC.

“The goal is to bring HDX to an explosion of new devices,” said Citrix CEO Mark Templeton during a keynote speech at the company’s Synergy conference in Barcelona. “When you take HDX and put it on a chip, the desktop goes from being a device to being a service, and being a service that you can deliver anywhere.”

The company has teamed up with Texas Instruments and NComputing to deliver the new product, which is based on industry standards, and uses off-the-shelf components.

Zero clients for under $100

Citrix said the HDX system-on-a-chip would enable customers to get the full high-definition user experience at a fraction of the cost, with HD zero clients, ultimately breaking the sub-$100 (£63) price point.

The news has been welcomed by tech giants, Dell, HP and Fujitsu, as well as mobile phone maker LG and networking company Huawei. HP’s Jeff Groudan said the system-on-a-chip approach would also help IT managers easily identify devices that work best with Citrix’s XenDesktop and XenApp.

“Citrix’s initiative is perfectly in line with HP’s strategy to deliver innovative, powerful, and easily managed thin computing solutions at attractive prices,” said Groudan.

HDX system-on-a-chip is currently designed for ARM-based chipsets, and will be expanding in the future to support x86 based systems. The first devices using the new technology are expected to hit the market in early 2012.

Earlier this month, Citrix and Cisco said they were expanding their existing partnership to develop new solutions that will ease the deployment of large-scale desktop virtualisation projects. The new strategic partnership between the two companies is apparently geared towards helping enterprises “accelerate mainstream adoption of desktop virtualisation.”