Citrix linked to Virtual Computer buyout

Acquisition again

Citrix is said to be on the verge of outing itself as the new owner of desktop virtualisation vendor Virtual Computer.

It is thought the virtualisation giant is planning to announce the news of its latest purchase at its Citrix Synergy event in San Francisco, which is taking place this week.

Virtual Computer's flagship product is a PC management platform called NxTop. It is used to separate the device's hardware, operating system, applications and user data so that they can be monitored and controlled independently without the need for a network connection.

Rumours of a possible tie-up between the two firms began circulating on social networking site Twitter earlier today.

However, both parties are remaining tight-lipped, with representatives from both Virtual Computer and Citrix declining IT Pro's request for comment.

Virtual Computer has been on the vendor's radar for some time, as Citrix was one of several firms who invested $15m in it back in 2009.

If the speculation about the acquisition turns out to be true, the deal will have echoes of Citrix's buyout of SMB-focused VDI vendor Kaviza in May 2011.

Before agreeing to acquire Kaviza, Citrix had invested an unspecified amount of money in the firm the previous year.

More to follow.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.