There have been some big changes for the NetScaler business, first and foremost a new logo and website. Latest blogs are here. With a renewed focus on performance, security and observability, there is some great innovation occurring within the NetsScaler business unit.

For over 25 years, NetScaler has helped optimize and secure applications for some of the largest businesses in the world. With NetScaler, IT and DevOps professionals see more and know more. Delivering highly reliable application performance and security hinges on the ability to see what’s happening. We are reintroducing NetScaler to the world, by rolling out a new brand strategy to capture our strengths and articulate our vision for the future. To find out more, watch this video and share it with your customers.

Some of the latest product changes to note are:

• All NetScaler firmware versions prior to 13.0 are now End of Life Except for 12.1 FIPS. Firmware 13.0 will go End of Life on 15th July 2024. Partners should now be planning upgrades with customers to the newer firmware versions, especially with firmware version 14.1 now generally available.

• There are several physical NetScaler appliances that will become End of Life on the 1st of January, 2024. See the full list of models here.

• NetScaler has now discontinued the sale of Pooled Licensing for Commercial customers. Partners should be positioning fixed capacity devices that meet the customers requirements over the next 3 years. Most physical device have or are going End of Life and being replaced with four core device types. Reach out to a Dicker Data Citrix PreSales Engineers to learn more.

As the EOL (End of Life) dates coincide with many customer change freeze periods, which typically start from mid-November for the Christmas peak, Partners should now be having conversations with customers, about the End-of-Life hardware. Remembering there is up to a six-week lead time on all hardware orders. Start those conversations now!

For the more technically minded, you can join the Netscaler Community. The NetScaler Community is the single place where you can engage with an ecosystem of NetScaler experts, including NetScaler product and engineering staff and NetScaler technology partners. Click here to get started.

NetScaler Hardware Pricing Changes

NetScaler vCPU Pooled Capacity Subscription Pricing Changes

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Update

The latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2305 is now available, bringing some great features to the on-premises environment. With a focus on Hybrid environments, Citrix is starting to close the feature parity between cloud and on-premise deployments for that true hybrid experience. This current release version has some great new features along with quite a few tech previews that really will make for a great Citrix experience.

• AutoScale is now available for on-premises CVAD deployments

• Machine Creation Services (MCS) enhancements around support for MAK activation and Descriptions for image updates

• New Citrix Workspace User interface, which brings a more streamlined and intuitive user experience, currently in Tech preview

For full details check out this Citrix blog

Don’t forget to check the CVAD Lifecycle matrix  for software versions that are nearing their End of Life and must be upgraded to continue receiving support. Current Release versions nearing EOL now are CVAD 2112 14-JUN-23 and CVAD 2206 28-DEC-23.

As a reminder, the following TTU to Universal SKUs became available on the 29th of March, 2023. Be sure to leverage these SKUs when quoting Trade-up to Universal for your customers to ensure they are receiving credit for the promotional trade-up price:

• Trade-up SKUs for Citrix Advanced Universal Subscription

• Trade-up SKUs for Citrix Advanced Plus Universal Subscription

• Trade-up SKUs for Citrix Premium Universal Subscription

• Trade-up SKUs for Citrix Premium Plus Universal Subscription

Refer to the PND for details: AMS, EMEA, APAC.

Read more on the benefits of Citrix Universal License and access the full PND here.

Citrix announced earlier this year that all customers with more than 1,000 licenses must move to a subscription license model. So please speak with your Dicker Data Citrix representative to help position this change with your affected customers.

Citrix Provisioning Services has been around since 2006, providing easy image management and deployment from small to very large deployments.

There have always been basic guidelines you would follow to ensure the best performance. Now, Citrix has released an updated guide with reference to the more modern Operating systems. If you are utilising PVS then you need to read and implement the recommendations.

See this blog post for further information.

On the 11th,12th and 13th of September Citrix held the Partner Technical Executive Council Event for 2023. The event was held at the Radisson Blue Edwardian Hotel and Conference Centre. Our Presales engineers were invited to attend. This event brings the Citrix and NetScaler product management and technical teams together, to showcase the future roadmaps of the technologies and provide critical feedback from the field directly to the Citrix and NetScaler business unit teams.

For more information on our Training Discounts please reach out to us here.