Citrix Manages Enterprise Mobility With Zenprise Acquisition

Citrix (CTXS) announced  it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Zenprise, a leading innovator in mobile device management (MDM) .

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has been big in the enterprise, and will continue to grow over the next 12 months. Zenprise meets the IT challenge of managing thousands of devices with a user-centric solution to enable BYOD to work securely.  Together Citrix and Zenprise will provide a single, integrated enterprise mobility product line from a trusted vendor that combines all the power of MDM, with the ability to manage mobile apps and data across any mix of user devices.

"Consumerization and BYO have given rise to very difficult challenges for businesses in enabling a productive, mobile workforce while still maintaining tight controls over company information," said Sumit Dhawan, VP and GM of Mobile Solutions at Citrix. "Zenprise was a clear choice for Citrix, with its leading MDM product, an experienced team, a history of innovation, and a footprint on more than one million devices. With a complete Citrix enterprise mobility solution, customers have all the necessary pieces to manage and secure mobile apps, content and devices."

Citrix intends to integrate the Zenprise solution for mobile device management, with its Cloud Gateway and Me@Work solutions for managing mobile apps and data. This combination delivers a complete stack for enterprise mobility and gives the option of on-premise or cloud solutions. The Zenprise slogan is 'Putting mobile to work' - and its success was validated earlier this year, when Gartner positioned Zenprise in the leaders quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software.

In a blog post regarding the acquisition Zenprise CEO Amit Pandey said that the company "has been building on its secure device lifecycle management platform to help organizations secure and manage mobile apps and data, and do it in a way that harmonizes IT’s needs with the end-user experience. Last year we were the first MDM vendor to introduce Mobile DLP with secure access to Microsoft SharePoint."

"This combination not only brings together incredibly complementary products, but a shared culture of innovation," said Waheed Qureshi, Chairman and CTO of Zenprise. "Citrix and Zenprise have each proven their ability to deliver leading offerings in a fast-paced market. Together, we will accelerate our ability to anticipate and exceed our customers’ expectations for world-class enterprise mobility solutions."