Free apps way to woo users into opening wallets?

Virtualisation software company Citrix is aiming to drive uptake of its technology by giving away several of its latest products for free.

The company's server virtualisation software, XenServer, has been available for free for several months and Citrix is now offering Citrix Receiver, its application delivery client, and Dazzle, its self-service application management software, on the same basis from this week.

Speaking to silicon.com at the company's iForum user conference in Edinburgh, Citrix CEO Mark Templeton said the free approach is designed to fuel take-up of virtualisation technology which the company can then exploit to generate revenue.

By getting XenServer for free, Templeton said, Citrix hopes businesses will buy the licensed products it makes that work with the server virtualisation technology - for example, Xen Desktop, management and automation package Citrix Essentials and load balancing technology NetScaler.

According to Citrix, more than 100,000 people have downloaded XenServer 5.0 since it became available as a free download. The upgraded 5.5 version is now available on the same basis.

Dazzle, which joined XenServer as a free app yesterday, is Citrix's attempt to take advantage of what Templeton referred to as the "consumerisation" of business technology.

Using Dazzle's interface, users can stream applications running on its application virtualisation and delivery software XenApp onto their chosen device. Templeton said the approach was inspired by consumer technologies such as iTunes and Google Apps. "Part of consumerisation is making things familiar to consumers so no training is required," he added.

Dazzle is currently available for Windows and Mac along with the Apple iPhone. Citrix is also developing it for other mobile platforms such as Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android.

Citrix appears to be making desktop virtualisation more central to its strategy as it looks to differentiate itself from VMware and Microsoft.

Templeton told silicon.com: "We're not battling VMware, what we're fighting is to grow the virtualisation market."