CIO — Rivals Citrix and VMware (VMW) have taken their battle beyond technology development, even beyond marketing. Now they're working on the imaginations and psychology of potential customers and, to a certain extent, rewriting history.

With a series of wider-ranging-than-usual announcements from its Synergy Conference in Berlin, Citrix this week tried to replace its image as a grayish but reliable provider of systems-access software with the flashier image of an IT architect building an end-to-end virtual infrastructure built on services in a sophisticated cloud-computing environment.

"Virtualization isn't just a virtual machine; it's what has to happen for a business to transform — virtual meetings, virtual desktops, virtual data centers, said Wes Wasson, chief strategy officer for Citrix in a teleconference Tuesday night.

[ For timely virtualization news and expert advice on strategy, see CIO.com's Virtualization Drilldown section. ]

Wasson went on to equate the addition of high-definition video and a new set of pricing and service packages for its GoToMeeting online conference and Webinar application, with streaming applications, VDI and cloud services.

"We're taking the virtues of virtualization and enabling it across the spectrum of where work happens," Wasson says.

Citrix announced a host of new features for XenDesktop 5 — including a bare-metal hypervisor that would allow for so-called bring-your-own-computer contracting arrangements. The company has added that function to FlexCast, its distribution technology that lets IT pick from range of virtual-client delivery methods. Citrix also announced technology called XenVault that can back up and secure data on BYOC laptops.

Among Citrix's new set of cloud computing features are a virtual switch and additions to its OpenCloud platform called Access and Bridge, designed to connect cloud environments by integrating access rights, security and policies. The goal is to give end users a single sign-on to any resource from an iPad to ERP running on a public cloud.

The tone of the announcements made Citrix sound a lot like VMware, so much so that it seemed as if the tone of the press-conference presentation was taken directly from the VMware menu, according to Chris Wolf, senior infrastructure analyst at The Burton Group.

While the tone may have been different, and revelation of cloud products to be delivered several months from no are very unlike Citrix, it doesn't mean Citrix's cloud plans or products are going to be as well baked as those of its main rival, Wolf says.

Users Want Less Fighting, More Answers

When it comes to the details comparing one vendor's product to another in cloud environments, end-user customers shouldn't have to care, says Don Whittington, VP and CIO for Domino Sugar, which has steadily moved closer to cloud computing and farther from on-site ownership and management of hard IT assets for more than a decade.

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