Microsoft and Cloud Software Group sign 8-year strategic partnership to bring AI generative solutions to more than 100 million people

ORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., and REDMOND, Wash. — April 4, 2024 — Today, Cloud Software Group Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced they are deepening their collaboration through an eight-year strategic partnership agreement. The agreement will strengthen the go-to-market collaboration for the Citrix® virtual application and desktop platform and support the development of new cloud and AI solutions with an integrated product roadmap. Additionally, Cloud Software Group will make a $1.65 billion commitment to the Microsoft cloud and its generative AI capabilities.

The agreement will invigorate one of the industry’s most durable alliances between Citrix, a business unit of Cloud Software Group, and Microsoft. Under the partnership, Citrix is the preferred Microsoft Global Azure Partner solution for Enterprise Desktop as a Service when collaborating with joint Azure customers. The companies will jointly support customer success and offer tailored solutions, expert guidance, and support to accelerate customers’ cloud journeys. Additionally, Citrix will leverage Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud solution, providing Citrix customers with the comprehensive benefits of the Citrix platform, complemented by Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. Further, the collaboration will create deeper paths to modern procurement options through Azure Marketplace, where customers can easily evaluate, expand, or renew Citrix solutions.

“As organizations embrace flexible work models, the need to empower employees with secure, innovative solutions for enhanced productivity becomes imperative,” said Sridhar Mullapudi, General Manager at Citrix. “The partnership between Citrix and Microsoft epitomizes the ‘Better Together’ relationship, combining both companies’ strengths to deliver unmatched value and innovation to our customers.”

“The simplification of our new Universal and Cloud Platform licensing, which brings together all of our capabilities, including NetScaler, will make our joint solutions with Microsoft much easier for customers to consume and deploy,” said Hector Lima, Chief Revenue Officer at Citrix.

The agreement will also accelerate productivity and new innovations in AI. Cloud Software Group’s engineering organizations are deploying GitHub Copilot to all their engineers with the goal of increasing developer productivity by over 20% — thus accelerating the pace of R&D across the organization. Also, Spotfire, a Cloud Software Group business unit, recently announced a new Spotfire Copilot™ extension built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI service. The Copilot assistant is embedded directly within Spotfire to help customers get more done with their data faster.

To increase collaboration and productivity, Cloud Software Group will transition all its employees to Microsoft 365. This will empower field teams with best-in-class productivity and AI tools to enable a new wave of joint go-to-market activities.

“Our strategic partnership with Cloud Software Group is built on a shared vision for customer success through cloud and AI technology adoption. Together, we will enhance the customer experience with integrated solutions and go-to-market support for its Citrix business unit,” said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft. “With Microsoft 365 as its collaboration platform and Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud solution, Citrix is well positioned to deliver transformative solutions for our mutual customers at scale.”

“We are excited to see the expanded partnership between Microsoft and Citrix and the ways in which it will help advance our own transformation journey,” Providence Chief Technology Officer Wasif Jamal said.