| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Santa Barbara, California |
| Key people | Brett Caine (President); Bernardo de Albergaria (VP and GM, Collaboration); Scott Allen (VP, Finance and Operations); Anthony Bishop ( VP, Divisional General Counsel); Elizabeth Cholawsky (VP, IT Services); Bernd Oliver Christiansen (VP and CTO); Erin Hintz (VP, Global Marketing and GM, eCommerce); Mike Mansbach (VP and GM, Sales and Client Services); Amy Meyer (VP, Human Resources); Malte Muenke (VP and Chief Architect); Mike Musson (VP, Strategy and Business Development); Lisa Reeves (VP and GM, Access and Cloud Services) |
| Products | Thin Client Software, Remote Access, Online Collaboration and Web Conferencing, Remote Support |
| Website | http://www.citrixonline.com |
Citrix Online is a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. NASDAQ: CTXS that sells web-based remote access, support, and collaboration software and services. Its products are GoToAssist, GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, GoToManage, GoToTraining, GoToWebinar, and HiDef Corporate.
Citrix Online is considered a key example of the software as a service/application service provider software business model.[1][2]
The division is based in Santa Barbara, California.
Contents |
Expertcity, Inc. was founded in 1997 by UCSB Professor Klaus Schauser and graduate students Bernd Oliver Christiansen and Malte Muenke.[3] Investors included Sun Microsystems, ZDNet, Bertelsmann Ventures, and Wit Capital.[4]
The company went live with a web-based marketplace for technical support services, called Expertcity, in December, 1999.[5] A user of the service would submit a technical support question through a simple webform and receive Dutch auction bids from online experts to resolve the problem.[6] Upon selecting one of the experts, the user would be connected to him via a chat interface and, optionally, via desktop sharing, whereby the expert could see the user's screen and remotely control the user's mouse and keyboard. This "remote desktop" technology formed the kernel of later products for Citrix Online.
Expertcity discontinued their support marketplace service on January 1, 2002 by transferring it to Tech24, Inc.[7] Tech24 subsequently phased out the service and transitioned to phone-based support.
The remote desktop technology behind the support marketplace enabled additional products. June 2000 saw the debut of DesktopStreaming (now GoToAssist), a corporate product that lets companies use desktop sharing for technical support between their own customers and support representatives.[8] GoToMyPC, which allows a user to remotely access his or her own desktop, followed in early 2001.
In 2003, Citrix Systems acquired Expertcity,[9] then a major player in web-based desktop access, in a transaction valued at approximately $225 million in cash and stock. Expertcity became the Citrix Online division of Citrix and retained many of the key developers of the original company.
At the time of the acquisition, Expertcity was developing GoToMeeting, a product that uses the remote desktop engine to allow multiple users to view and control a single desktop, enabling both collaborative support and collaborative presentations. In 2006, Citrix Online adapted GoToMeeting to support the growing market for web-based training and web-based seminars. The resulting GoToWebinar product and the GoToTraining product that launched in 2010[10] allow hundreds of attendees to view a single screen and join in a phone conference.
In 2008, Citrix acquired Vapps, Inc., an audio conferencing provider,[11] and created Citrix Online Audio, LLC. Shortly after, they released HiDef Corporate,a flat-rate, hosted audio conferencing service.
In 2010, Citrix Online acquired Paglo Labs and released GoToManage, an IT management and support tool.[12]