Citrix Synergy 2011: Citrix snaps up AppDNA

Citrix has acquired AppDNA in an effort to strengthen the application management side of its virtual desktop offering.

The UK-based AppDNA is best known for its AppTitude product, enabling businesses to monitor which applications they have running in their environments and the best way to migrate them onto new systems.

During his keynote speech at his company’s annual conference, Citrix chief executive (CEO) Mark Templeton said the acquisition would help businesses “beat the big countdown clock” to 2014 – when Microsoft stops offering support for Windows XP.

“Millions of customers have millions of apps linked to Microsoft XP – the problem is migrating them forward,” he said. “Some [apps] work, some don’t, but the biggest problem is you can’t predict what is going to work.”

“So we decided we were going to do something about this… and bring on-board what has been a fantastic partner of ours.”

Although Citrix did not reveal the price it paid for AppDNA, a statement on the London Stock Exchange website claimed it was $92 million – 32 times the amount investment to kick-start the firm earlier this year.

It was born from its parent company Camwood and was reported by The Sunday Times as bringing in £8.8 million in sales. The acquisition is expected to be finalised by the end of November.

Cloud Pro was due to meet with the company during this week’s Citrix Synergy event but received a cancellation email this morning before the announcement. The firm was also unable to give us comment on the acquisition.

For more stories from Citrix Synergy 2011, check out our news round-up page here.