Citrix Systems, Citrix Systems, Inc.1

Fort Lauderdale - FL United States

The big idea: In 25 words or less, please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.

Citrix is engineering white-hot virtualization technology to connect users with applications anytime, anywhere – fundamentally changing the way its customers do business.

Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address? (suggested length: 100 words)

Today’s businesses run on applications. Citrix sees this fundamental basis as an opportunity to streamline and change the way today’s businesses operate. By removing the barriers that tie applications to specific devices and locations and making it possible to access any application from any location—with the same experience as sitting in a traditional office setting in front of a PC configured with applications—Citrix is giving businesses a new level of flexibility. Workers are no longer tied to the desktop, they can be completely mobile – working from home or any remote location. As businesses become increasingly widespread and global, users anywhere can connect to the applications they need to do their jobs using Citrix technology.

Last year Citrix completed its largest acquisition to date when it purchased virtualization technology provider XenSource for $500 million. By moving into the areas of desktop and server virtualization with this investment, Citrix is expanding its vision to make desktops and servers as flexible and easy to access and deploy as virtual applications. By eliminating the barriers that tie down the enterprise technology end users rely on daily to conduct business, Citrix technology improves business efficiency, communication, productivity and drives down cost. Citrix also has close partnerships with leading technology companies such as Microsoft and HP, working to further expand the reach and impact of virtualization technologies.

One of the largest cable communications providers in the U.S. used Citrix technology to implement a green call center program. It needed more call center employees to support its growing business, but rather than build new facilities for the expanding call-center staff, used Citrix technology to enable them to work from home. Citrix technology promotes workforce agility, supports business expansion and lowers costs for the company. An agricultural cooperative in rural Brazil uses Citrix technology to connect its 40 rural grower locations for unified communications. Using Citrix, the co-op has set itself far apart from competing agricultural cooperatives and positioned itself for growth and increased investment in the global marketplace.

What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses? (suggested length: 100 words)

Citrix Systems is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100 percent of the Fortune 100 companies and 99 percent of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 7,680 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2007 was $1.4 billion.

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