Citrix likely to raise prices
By Martin Veitch
CIO (UK)

LONDON (08/01/2008) - Citrix Systems is likely to follow software giants Oracle and SAP by raising prices. The company that pioneered Windows thin-client computing said that the decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies was forcing its hand.

"We price in US dollars and I don't have to tell you about what's happened in the last few years," said Citrix CEO Mark Templeton in an exclusive interview with CIO UK magazine. "The cost of doing business outside the US has dramatically changed. It's reasonably likely we'll have some sort of price hike. The pressure has built in the last few years."

Pressed on when a rise could occur, Templeton said the new tariff was likely to be "imminent".

However, Templeton denied that any change in charging was a tactic designed to combat a difficult market for business software. "We don't see pricing as a way of weathering the downturn," he said.

Citrix is also looking to make services a bigger chunk of its income through "strategic architectural design" projects, primarily with large customers.

"Last year, services revenue was eight percent of total revenue and I think we're pretty low when it comes to our peers. We can help by having a larger capability. We can probably get that to eight to 12 percent [of revenue]."

SAP caused a ruckus earlier this month when it said it would move customers onto a new maintenance agreement that would mandate higher prices. Oracle prices also went up when the firm issued a new price list a fortnight ago.

Copyright 2006 IDG News Service, International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.