TechValidate Research on Citrix NetScaler

Introduction

This case study of Christiana Care Health System is based on a September 2016 survey of Citrix NetScaler customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service.

Challenges

The business challenges that led the profiled company to evaluate and ultimately select Citrix NetScaler:

• Primary reasons for considering a replacement option:
  • Had technical challenges with their existing solution
  • Was unhappy with support from the manufacturer
  • Had an end-of-life product with no upgrade path provided by the manufacturer
  • Had a product that was up for refresh and they were exploring alternative solutions
  • Took the recommendation of a third-party partner
  • Needed a high performing software-based offering that would support apps across a hybrid cloud topology
  • Was consolidating multiple point solutions
• Considered the following for their application delivery infrastructure needs:
  • Flexible and versatile deployment options (physical, virtual, multi-tenant or containers)
  • The ability to support our traditional and microservice application deployments on a common platform
  • Hybrid and multi-cloud supportability
  • Depth of integration and capabilities for SDN frameworks
  • Vendor reputation and support
• Competitive solutions considered before choosing NetScaler:
  • Cisco
  • F5

Use Case

The key features and functionalities of Citrix NetScaler that the surveyed company uses:

• Uses NetScaler in the following ways:
  • Secure remote access to XenApp, XenDesktop or XenMobile
  • Secure access to non-Citrix hosted applications via SSL VPN
  • General server load balancing
  • Support our Microsoft (Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Direct Access) application environment
  • Optimize the performance of our web applications
  • Increase availability of our core applications with geographic server load balancing and failover
  • Secure our web infrastructure against external threats and attacks
  • Secure users’ access credentials to Office 365
• Chose NetScaler over the following competitors:
  • F5
  • Juniper/Pulse Secure

Results

The surveyed company achieved the following results with Citrix NetScaler:

• Reasons for selecting NetScaler:
  • For its integration with other Citrix products
  • For its built-in support for containerized application deployments
  • For more scalable and secure multi-tenancy with SDX
  • For better management and application analytics across multiple instances
  • It was highly recommended by a peer or third-party partner

Introduction

This case study of Somerset Hospital Center For Health is based on a September 2015 survey of Citrix NetScaler customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service.

Challenges

• Top purchasing drivers for choosing NetScaler:
  • Integration with other Citrix products
  • Recommendations from a third-party partner

Use Case

• Currently using NetScaler in the following ways:
  • Support their XenApp/XenDesktop deployment
  • Support general (non-Citrix workloads) server load balancing
• Other Citrix products currently deployed at your organization:
  • XenApp
  • XenDesktop

Results

• Would pursue VMWare NSX as the industry begins to explore the realities of software-defined networking (SDN) and the benefits it can provide to automate and scale their network.