Citrix Cloud Platform offers the most functionality for the price - Info-Tech Value Award

Info-Tech evaluated nine competitors in the Cloud Management market, including the following notable performers:

Champions:

• Citrix CloudPlatform offers flexible hypervisor and hardware deployment options with the support of a mature vendor and a strong open source community.

• Abiquo's capabilities to integrate with existing systems, in combination with its stand out self service functionality make it a great solution for enterprises needing a private or hybrid cloud.

• VMware. A virtualization force with a solid foundation for private cloud deployments, offering standout performance monitoring and drill down capabilities.

Value Award:

• Citrix. A hardened open source solution with a simple price per socket annual subscription model, Cloud Platform offers the most functionality for the price.

Trend Setter Award:

• Flexiant's unique customization and whitelabeling, integrated  billing, and it's ability to support multiple hypervisors, make it a standout solution that's ahead of the curve in advanced features.

 

Info-Tech Insight

 

1. Match features to use case. Solutions targeting service providers often have broader hypervisor support and chargeback functionality, but tend not to integrate with VMware vSphere.

2. Evaluate hypervisor support. Most solutions support both VMware ESX and KVM, but few support Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer. As hybrid cloud scenarios become more commonplace, it will be important for service providers to select a solution that supports the install base of its clients. Enterprises should look to solutions that can be layered on existing hardware, whether commodity servers, blade systems or virtualized infrastructures with storage.

3. Consider Amazon hook-ins for bursting scenarios. If there is a strong use case for public cloud integration for seasonal or project-based variation in requirements for
resources, capability to integrate with Amazon using its APIs is a plus.

 

Citrix offers includes the hypervisor layer with XenServer, the cloud orchestration layer with CloudPlatform and the user portal with CloudPortal Business Manager.

 

 

• Citrix CloudPlatform is a commercially available and fully supported version of the open source Apache CloudStack project. Citrix contributed acquired Cloud.com (2011) CloudStack to the Apache Software Foundation in April of 2012.

 

Strengths

• CloudPlatform has proven to be a mature solution with over 150 paid customers deployed in large production environments, including service providers (NTT, GoDaddy), enterprises (Nokia, BechTel) and Web 2.0 companies (Zynga, NetFlix, Samsung).

• Citrix has a strong cloud portfolio spanning servers, networking, and desktops, but also offers flexibility by supporting multiple hypervisors (XenServer, ESX, OVS, and KVM).

• Single management console is accessible via command line interface, web-GUI, or orchestrated using APIs, and includes a guided configuration as a simple launch option for new users.

• Supports Amazon APIs for hybrid cloud deployments.

 

Challenges

• CloudPlatform requires purchase of CloudPortal Business Manager to enable visibility to end users around costs.

 

• There is a perception that Open Stack is currently getting more developer support. That said, over 100 companies have contributed CloudPlatform code, and many are active in both communities, including Cisco, IBM, Red Hat, and SUSE.

Below please find some relevant information:
CloudPlatform: http://www.citrix.com/products/cloudplatform/overview.html

CloudPortal Business Manager: http://www.citrix.com/products/cloudportal-business-manager/overview.html