Citrix Service Provider Program Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 Citrix Service Provider Program Frequently Asked Questions What is the Citrix Service Provider Program? The Citrix Service Provider (CSP) Program is a Citrix partner program designed specifically for service providers who provide and/or resell hosted software services to end-user customers. The CSP Program addresses the service provider market for offsite, multi-tenant hosting, and augmented with on-premise equipment if needed to satisfy service level agreements, where the end-user customer is not the licensee and does not manage nor access the CSP s management infrastructure. The CSP program extends to service providers the right to use Citrix products as the underpinning of their delivery infrastructure and gives CSPs where applicable the flexibility of a monthly active subscriber pricing and licensing model. Service providers always have access to the most current versions of Citrix products available in the program and only pay for actual end-user usage recorded or accounts active during the previous calendar month. Why was the Citrix Service Provider Program created? The Citrix Service Provider (CSP) Program was created in response to growing demand from service providers for a monthly subscription-based pricing and licensing program. Service providers require a flexible cost structure that eliminates any up-front license fees or minimum commitments as well as the ability to carefully manage cash flow. Citrix created the CSP program with these core requirements in mind so that program members will be able to build their businesses methodically and profitably. Citrix incorporated input from leading service providers to create this compelling program that s in sync with the service provider business model. Who will be interested in joining the Citrix Service Provider program? This program is designed specifically for service providers who provide software services and hosted applications to end-user customers on a rental, subscription or services basis. Service providers looking for a program that will allow them to scale their business and pay only for what their customers actually use or sign up for will be interested in joining this program. There are over 10,000 service providers globally who fit this profile and the numbers are growing with the rising popularity of software as a service (aka SaaS). The CSP program is structured to meet the needs of these service providers and help them maximize the number of customers served from the same underlying software (aka multi-tenancy for high density and high utilization levels) and avoid up-front license fees and minimum commitments. Who will NOT be interested in joining the Citrix Service Provider program? Technology resellers that exclusively sell perpetual licenses of Citrix software to customers are not candidates for the CSP program. This includes the majority of existing CSA partners. Additionally, if ownership of the IT asset (i.e., Citrix software) and possession at the end-user location are contractual requirements, then the CSP program is not the right program to join. In the CSP program license agreement, Citrix retains ownership of any software used in the delivery of the service and the software is to be hosted by the service provider and not by the end-user organization. Likewise, outsourcers with a focus on signing long-term (i.e., multi-year) contracts will not find the pricing and licensing model of the CSP program compelling in comparison to Citrix existing perpetual licensing and pricing programs. Page 1 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

2 What is the target market and typical customer profile for service providers? The target market served is primarily the small to medium business market with less than 500 employees, with employee SMBs being a target sweet spot. A typical customer would be a small to medium-size law firm, accounting practice, medical practice, or manufacturing company with multiple sites and limited IT staff. There is no typical customer profile in terms of industry classification. Interviews conducted with 50+ service providers reveals that they focus on serving customers in their own local and regional markets (i.e. city, state, country) who don t want to own IT assets just use them. Service providers offer hosted applications (i.e. Microsoft Office, specific vertical industry applications, etc.) and desktops per month per user, and customers select the specific applications needed. Pricing for the end user service ranges widely from less than $75 to more than $200 per user per month depending on the functionality provided. Monthly subscriber-based licensing is often more attractive to small and medium business customers who cannot take advantage of volume discounting, and/or who need to adjust their staff levels to meet changing market conditions. Which Citrix products are included in the CSP program? The CSP program includes monthly usage-based pricing and licensing offerings for XenApp for Service Providers, XenDesktop for Service Providers, VDI-in-a-Box for Service Providers, XenServer for Service Providers as well as NetScaler VPX, Access Gateway VPX, Branch Repeater VPX, CloudBridge VPX, CloudGateway and CloudPortal Services Manager. Does the CSP program offer discounts? If so, how are they obtained? The CSP program offers tiered pricing models (see below) include three consumption types (Subscribers, Virtual Instances, Physical Servers) with discount tiers, each with its own discount level, that help establish the overall, total discount across the entire subscriber base: Subscribers: (XenApp, XenDesktop, VDI-in-a-Box, CloudPortal Services Manager) 0-5,001-15,001-30,001- Discount Tiers 5,000 15,000 30,000 60,000 Discount for the Tier 0% 15% 25% 35% Total Net Effective Discount 0% 10% 18% 26%* Virtual Instances: (NetScaler VPX, Branch Repeater VPX, XenServer) ,501-3,001- Discount Tiers 500 1,500 3,000 6,000 Discount for the Tier 0% 15% 25% 35% Total Net Effective Discount 0% 10% 18% 26%** Physical Servers: (XenServer) Discount Tiers Discount for the Tier 0% 15% 25% 35% Total Net Effective Discount 0% 10% 18% 26%** 60K Subscribers 6K Virtual Instances 600 Physical Servers Page 2 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

3 How are Subscription Advantage renewals handled? Subscription Advantage (SA) is built into the monthly pricing and therefore SA renewals do not apply. Are Citrix Advisor Rewards part of the program? No. Citrix Advisor Rewards are not offered as part of the CSP program. What is active subscriber licensing and why is it popular with service providers? Citrix active subscriber licensing model is actual usage-based pricing and is extremely popular with service providers. Service providers offer hosted application services and desktops per month per named user (aka subscriber ). In the Citrix model, the service provider only reports and pays for those subscribers that actually log-in and use the desktop service. This is not the same as CCU-based licensing (in fact, concurrent licensing is not part of the CSP program). Active subscriber licensing accommodates variability in month to month usage and is tabulated based on the total number of actual desktop users during the preceding calendar month time period. Service providers find Citrix licensing model extremely fair and appreciate the utilitybased nature of our licensing. Active subscriber licensing affords the service provider the added benefit of being able to calculate exactly what their subscriber revenue will be on a monthly basis while also guaranteeing that their costs will never exceed revenue. In fact, many service providers have express their appreciation to Citrix on providing them with an innovative licensing model that directly contributes to their bottom line profitability. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix NetScaler VPX? NetScaler VPX is offered in a range of bandwidth options and versions with the Service Provider paying on an active appliance per month basis. In other words once a Service Provider provisions a NetScaler VPX for their customer(s) and it is used by a customer, they will pay the monthly usage fee regardless of the number of applications or customers accessing the service during the month. What is the difference between Citrix NetScaler VPX and Citrix NetScaler VPX with Clustering? Citrix NetScaler VPX with Clustering adds TriScale Clustering to the Citrix NetScaler for Service Providers offering, benefits include: "Scale-Out" with clustering up to 32 NetScaler appliances into single system image Multiple traffic distribution system mechanisms Traffic distribution mechanisms include: Equal Cost Multiple Path (ECMP), Linksets, and Cluster Link Aggregation Group (CLAG) Configuration Coordinator node for centralized management and synchronization What is Premium under the CSP Program? The designation Premium was created for the CSP program to allow simpler delivery of multiple licenses to our Partners. The Premium ordering SKU delivers XenApp Platinum, XenDesktop Platinum, and VDI-in-a-Box licenses which can be used in any combination by our service providers for one price. Premium also includes the free use of XenServer (any edition) for the partners Citrix hosting environment as well as Branch Repeater for each end user, if required. Page 3 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

4 What is Base under the CSP Program? The designation Base was created for the CSP program to allow for simpler delivery of multiple licenses to our Partners. The Base ordering SKU delivers XenApp Advanced via the XenApp Base SKU and the VDI Base SKU delivers VDI-in-a-Box and XenDesktop VDI Edition license which must be used as standalone products (i.e., XenApp, XenServer, and Branch Repeater are not included with Base). How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix Access Gateway VPX? Access Gateway VPX is offered with the Service Provider paying on an active appliance per month basis. In other words once a Service Provider provisions an Access Gateway VPX for their customer(s) and it is used by a customer, they will pay the monthly usage fee. There is also a user based component for Access Gateway (not applicable for Citrix Premium for Service Provider users) so the Service Provider will need to measure the active users monthly and pay the connection fee per user. There are different costs for users and for users. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix Branch Repeater VPX? Branch Repeater VPX is offered in a range of bandwidth options with the Service Provider paying on an active appliance per month basis. In other words once a Service Provider provisions a Branch Repeater VPX for their customer(s) and it is used by a customer, they will pay the monthly usage fee regardless of the number of applications or customers accessing it during the month. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix NetScaler CloudBridge VPX? CloudBridge VPX is offered in a range of options and versions with the Service Provider paying on an active appliance per month basis. In other words once a Service Provider provisions a CloudBridge VPX for their customer(s) and it is used by a customer, they will pay the monthly usage fee regardless of the number of applications or customers accessing it during the month. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix CloudPortal Services Manager? CloudPortal Services Manager includes two different ways of paying for monthly usage. Reporting SKUs continue to be available, as they were through EMS-Cortex for a la carte services based on usage such as SharePoint, Exchanges mailboxes, etc. In addition, Citrix also created an all-in-one SKU which allows partners using many different services including desktops, Exchange, SharePoint and even Custom Services to report usage using just one SKU for $2.00 per user per month including unlimited per user services. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix CloudGateway? Citrix CloudGateway will be charged by user connections. How will Service Providers be charged for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box? Citrix VDI-in-a-Box is paid for in the same way as our other Desktop Products, by active user per month. Citrix VDI-in-a-Box is offered as a Premium version and is delivered under our Premium SKU with XenDesktop and XenApp. Citrix VDI-in-a-Box Premium includes XenApp Platinum and free XenServer usage. In addition, VDI-in-a-Box is now available under VDI Base along with XenDesktop VDI Edition. All VDI Base products exclude XenApp and XenServer. How does Microsoft licensing work for service providers with VDI-in-a-Box? Currently VDI-in-a-Box delivers VDI functionality requiring service provider to set up dedicated hardware and use end customer Windows 7 client licensing with Microsoft VDA license for off Page 4 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

5 premise solutions. With the introduction Hosted Server VDI, service providers will be able to deliver VDI using a single instance of Windows Server 2008 R2 using shared infrastructure and complying with Microsoft s licensing with all licensing under Microsoft SPLA and CSP. What makes the Premium level offering of XenApp for Service Providers or XenDesktop for Service Providers compelling? Service providers who select the Premium level offerings will benefit from having the ability to use Citrix XenServer for Service Providers to virtualize the XenApp and/or XenDesktop workloads running in their data centers. This will lower their data center TCO and maximize server and user density in their virtualized hosting environments. In addition, Service Providers using Citrix Secure Access with Access Gateway or NetScaler will not pay an additional user connection fee under Access Gateway or NetScaler as user connections licenses are included with the Premium version. Other key reasons for service providers to choose the Premium level offering of XenApp and XenDesktop for Service Providers includes built-in provisioning server functionality as well as the end-to-end performance monitoring and reporting capabilities of EdgeSight. The latter automates and facilitates the monthly POS reporting process and helps service providers ensure that they are reporting accurately. Premium also includes profiling, VPN and single sign on. And now the following are included: (a) App Orchestration Technology that automates the design, configuration, deployment and lifecycle maintenance of Windows apps and desktops hosted by CSPs for multiple tenants, across multiple farms, (b) Seamless App Technology that allows end users can now have their personal, local apps alongside private-cloud business apps from their employer, all seamlessly presented in a cloud-based desktop with standard productivity suites, and (c) Hosted Server VDI enables CSPs to provide dedicated VDI desktops to tenants through Citrix XenDesktop, without the need for dedicated tenant hardware. When the Service Provider Automation Pack is installed, CSPs can use servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 to host the Virtual Desktop Agent, share server resources among multiple tenants, and deliver desktops with the look and feel of Windows 7, all while remaining compliant with the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement. Tenants enjoy the benefits of dedicated VDI desktops, without the costs associated with purchasing dedicated licenses or extra hardware. Users enjoy desktops that can be fully personalized and have the ability to use a wide variety of USB peripherals such as barcode scanners and specialized keyboards. In addition, there is a reporting SKU available allowing for a single application delivery at a reduced cost allowing service providers delivering a single application to use Premium at a reduced rate. How can a service provider join the Citrix Service Provider program? Service providers who are not existing Citrix partners should visit and apply online. Existing Citrix partner may apply by having their Citrix Org Administrator log on to MyCitrix and apply for a new program from their Toolbox option: Update Locations & Memberships. Is there a fee to join the Citrix Service Provider program? There is no entry fee to the program, however, beginning in August, 2013 all new partners joining the program will be required to purchase a technical support agreement as part of the registration process. This contract will provide two support incidents for $ If CSP needs Page 5 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

6 support beyond the initial two incidents they can continue to purchase the existing CSP support contract for five additional incidents. Partners renewing their CSP agreement that are not reporting $ per month under CSP will be required to purchase a support agreement as part of the registration process. Who will provide technical support to end users? The service provider will be responsible for all technical support to their end-user customers. Service providers will be encouraged to purchase a technical support contract from Citrix for Citrix authorized technical support. There is a specific CSP Technical Support agreement available from CSP Distributors offering 24X7 support, existing Citrix partner (CSA) technical support contracts may not be used to support Citrix Service Provider business. Beginning in August, 2013 all CSPs that are reporting more than $ per month (for the previous three months) will have access to unlimited 24X7 technical support. Can an existing Citrix partner join the CSP program? Yes, any partner that meets the qualifications can join the CSP program. Existing Citrix partner may apply by having their Citrix Org Administrator log on to Partner Central and apply for a new program. What is a CSP Distributor and what function(s) do they perform? Citrix has developed a 2-Tier leveraged channel model for the Citrix Service Provider program. Designated CSP Distributors are authorized to recruit, manage, and support service providers as well as aggregate monthly reporting from all the service providers in their respective geography. This model is extremely efficient and is in sync with how other ISVs (e.g., Microsoft) manage their service provider business. CSP Distributors are incented by rebates tied to ontime reporting of service providers in their network. The CSP program launched with a core group of CSP Distributors in North America, EMEA, and APAC. The current list of CSP Distributors can be found at Who does a service provider receive program support from? A service provider will receive primary support from their CSP Distributor. Questions related to product, pricing, licensing and the overall program should all be directed to the CSP Distributors. Citrix will work very closely with the CSP Distributors to support the successful ramp-up of service providers joining the CSP program but the goal is to have the distributors be the primary interface. Citrix selected these CSP Distributors based on their experience in supporting the needs of the service provider community. If the support required is technical in nature, the service provider can purchase Citrix technical support. Questions regarding the CSP Program can be forwarded to [email protected]. What are the qualifications to join the CSP program? To qualify, the service provider agrees to utilize Citrix products in an off-site, multi-tenant environment (on site is allowed as specified further in this document) and to submit monthly POS reports on time to a designated CSP Distributor and to allow Citrix the right to audit and access the facility to ensure reporting compliance. The service provider also commits to maintaining a minimum of two (2) CCA Certifications for each Citrix product deployed and to be a current member in the Microsoft SPLA program. What is an offsite multi-tenant environment and why is it a program qualification? Page 6 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

7 The CSP Program and the terms of the CSP Program Agreement limit the usage of Citrix products to an offsite multi-tenant environment or an offsite dedicated environment. This is defined as a Service Provider s site or a co-location facility where the Service Provider has a shared set of servers providing services to their customers. Specifically, the CSP program is restricted to service providers using Citrix products in an offsite multi-tenant environment and is not a program that end-user organizations can participate in directly. Instead, end-user organizations will subscribe to CSP partners hosted offerings. In the case of a customer wanting a dedicated set of servers for their company, a CSP can set up a dedicated environment within their offsite or co-location site. Are there any situations where a CSP can place licenses on a customer premise? Yes, under specific circumstances CSPs are allowed to place licenses on premise including Branch Repeater and NetScaler Cloud Gateway. A recent change to CSP usage rights also allows a CSP to deploy licenses from their off-site License Servers into a customer premise on CSP owned hardware and managed from the CSP datacenter as long as the customer has no ability to manage or access the licenses. Can a service provider offer both an offsite multi-tenant environment and a perpetually licensed hosted offering to end-users using Citrix products? Yes, a service provider is allowed to purchase perpetual licenses of Citrix software and offer them as part of a hosted service to their customers. In order to purchase perpetual licenses a CSP must either have an agreement in place to resell perpetual licenses (Citrix Solution Advisor, System Integrator, ISV, Citrix LAR, etc.) or they must procure through a partner who does. In other words, a CSP cannot resell perpetual licenses under the CSP agreement. Also, service providers must maintain their perpetual license hosting environments separately from their monthly service provider environment with separate licensing servers. What are the CSP program reporting requirements for service providers and what happens if the service provider fails to report? All CSPs must submit to Citrix, via their Citrix CSP Distributor, a monthly use report within ten (10) business days after the end of each and every calendar month. Failure to provide reporting for two months will result in program termination. What is SPLA? SPLA stands for Service Provider Licensing Agreement and is the name of Microsoft s service provider program. The Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) enables service providers and ISVs with a hosted offering to license Microsoft products on a monthly basis to provide services and hosted applications to their end customers. SPLA is an abbreviation and wellknown industry term that many service providers equate with the monthly pricing and licensing model used to charge for hosted software services. Citrix Service Provider program includes a similar CSP Program Agreement that defines service provider partners use rights. What are the license rights under the CSP Program? The license rights under the CSP are: 1. The right for the licensee (service provider) to provide software services to 3 rd parties. 2. The right for the licensee s customers (end users) to access or use the Citrix licensed products running on the service provider s environment. 3. The right for the licensee to provide multi-tenancy (more than one customer) to use the same Citrix server products. Page 7 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

8 4. The right for the licensee to provide a dedicated (one customer) environment for a customer in their offsite environment. 5. The right for the licensee to deploy licenses from their off-site License Servers into a customer premise on CSP owned hardware and managed from the CSP datacenter as long as the customer has no ability to manage or access the licenses. 6. The right to pay for actual use on a monthly basis (non-perpetual license). 7. The right to no up-front license fees and no minimum revenue commitments. How will Licenses be delivered to a CSP program member? Upon approval, the service provider will be required to submit a zero dollar purchase (stocking) order for the license(s) required. Upon receipt Citrix will deliver licenses to the Partner Central account of the designated partner contact. What impact is there, if any, on perpetual license sales because of the CSP program? Because this is an additional route to market for the company, we expect incremental sales and new revenue opportunities. The Microsoft SPLA reseller program has over 5,000 partners globally and less than 10% of our existing partners are also in Microsoft s program. Now that Citrix has an official service provider program, our expectation is that many of these Microsoft SPLA resellers will join our program. Why would a service provider join the CSP program? There are a host of sales, marketing, and technical benefits associated with the CSP program that service providers will find immediately valuable. The program benefits include: No membership fee to join the program No upfront commitments or minimum purchase requirements Ability to host Citrix enabled services on a worldwide basis Flexibility to host with Citrix perpetual licenses and/or offer monthly service provider licensing Active subscriber pricing which translates to greater profitability for service providers Extremely compelling and flexible monthly pricing Volume discounts Guaranteed pricing stability Streamlined reporting process that is in sync with the Microsoft SPLA program Flexibility to choose Premium or Base level of Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop for Service Providers Ability to offer IaaS on a monthly basis using Essentials for XenServer/Hyper-V Use of XenServer to virtualize XenApp and XenDesktop workloads (Premium level privilege) Accurate and rapid reporting using EdgeSight Reporting Services (Premium level privilege) Right to offer free of charge 30-day end-user evaluations of hosted services Lower TCO tied to greater server and user density in the data center Greater end-user satisfaction because of Citrix HDX experience Access to design best practices via the CSP Reference Architecture Ability to request a design review with our Solution Architects Ability to use Citrix corporate logo and partner program logo Page 8 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

9 Access to Partner Central Portal Access to Citrix Partner Events Is Citrix working closely with Microsoft on the Citrix Service Provider program? Microsoft has been extremely supportive and helpful to Citrix regarding the service provider effort. The two companies have been working together on a regular basis and the CSP program is modeled in large part after the Microsoft SPLA program. For the past 9+ years, Microsoft has been building their own SPLA program and Microsoft is positive about Citrix being in this space. The CSP program is helping drive additional service provider business and increase the numbers of monthly subscribers using Microsoft applications. Additionally, the CSP program allows ISVs being able to offer their applications through hosting providers or on their own as SaaS-based solutions to the SMB space. What if a service provider has a specific question about Microsoft s SPLA licensing policies? Please direct anyone with Microsoft SPLA questions, including licensing questions, to Microsoft s SPLA program site which is accessible from the following URL: Microsoft has created a very comprehensive set of documentation related to its SPLA program and also provides contact information for questions. It is incumbent on the service provider to remain compliant with all Microsoft licensing and pricing policies under the SPLA program. How will Citrix Sales get paid on service provider business? Each Citrix geo sales organization will determine the specific compensation model for service provider generated business. From a reporting process perspective, service providers are required to report subscriber data which includes company name and detailed geographical data that can be used to determine Sales compensation. When is it appropriate to have a customer consider service provider licensing vs. a perpetual license? Consider discussing service providing licensing when: The user count fluctuates dramatically month to month The end user is not willing to make a commitment for greater than three years The end user organization indicates that they do not want to own the IT asset just the right to use the services offered. In all other situations standard Citrix perpetual licenses may be more financially advantageous. Is there a time frame that pinpoints when service provider licensing ceases to cost less than purchasing perpetual licenses? Yes. In fact, you should never position service provider licensing as less expensive than perpetual software licensing. For one, consumers of service provider licensing do not own the IT asset, they simply have the right to use the service for the duration of their subscription. From a cumulative cash flow perspective, there is a clear cross-over inflection point. Service Provider pricing will typically only be more beneficial financially if the customer is planning to use the licenses less than 3 years. Service Provider licensed products are generally not available for on-premise end-user usage but can only be hosted by an official CSP partner in their offsite, multi-tenant environment. An exception does allow the CSP to place CSP-owned hardware on the Page 9 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013

10 customer s site if the license is housed and managed in the CSP datacenter and the customer has no management access and only access to the hosted service. Will the service provider be provided with NFR and internal use licenses? No, NFR and internal use licenses are not relevant to this partner type. The authorized Citrix Service Provider will have the right to support free of charge evaluations of their service by end users for a period not exceeding 30 days. Should evaluations exceed 30 days standard pricing will apply. Page 10 of 10 Revised: May 20, 2013