The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, has announced that Citrix Systems has become its newest member.

Citrix is a provider of virtualization; cloud computing, and software as a service (SaaS) offerings for companies worldwide, including 99 percent of Fortune 500 enterprises. Citrix leads the open source Xen® hypervisor project which is based on Linux.

"The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaborative work on requirements for Linux and complementary projects such as the Xen Project, Xen Client hypervisor Initiative (XCI) and Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) initiative," said Ian Pratt, founder and chair of Xen.org and vice president of Advanced Products at Citrix Systems. "Citrix has joined the Linux Foundation both in its role as leader of the Xen Project and because it ships commercial products based on Xen."

In addition to developing the Xen hypervisor, the Xen community is working on the development of complete client hypervisor and cloud virtualization platform products, which incorporate Linux as an embedded, secure, optimized run time for the Virtual Machine Monitor. The Xen community also develops open source technology to permit Linux to run with optimal performance on other hypervisors, such as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESX Server.

"Citrix delivers Xen-based virtual infrastructure with every one of its major products, as a free, built-in feature," said Simon Crosby, CTO, Data Center and Cloud Division, Citrix. "We are committed to an open, collaborative development partnership with the Linux and Xen communities to continue to advance the ubiquitous adoption of free, enterprise-class virtual infrastructure."

Citrix plans to take advantage of Linux Foundation workgroups and events, including the first-ever LinuxCon, which kicks off next week (September 21 - 23) in Portland, Oregon (http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon).

"The Linux community includes many developers who contribute to other open source projects, such as the Xen project," said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation. "By joining the Linux Foundation, companies like Citrix are making the smart choice to strengthen their ties with the Linux community, which benefits everyone involved."

Citrix recently announced the open source Xen Cloud Platform initiative aimed at delivering a secure open source infrastructure platform for federated cloud services. For more information, please visit: http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857184.