Citrix adds free version of Essentials management suite

Citrix is offering a free tool to aid companies just starting with virtualisation

Citrix has announced a free-to-download version of its Essentials management tool for Microsoft's Hyper-V, aimed at organisations just starting out with virtualisation.

Available immediately, Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V Express Edition supports up to two servers and a single storage array managed via Citrix's StorageLink technology, included with the suite.

The Express Edition is designed for IT departments in early phases of Hyper-V adoption, according to Citrix, and the inclusion of StorageLink means that customers can take advantage of simplified shared storage right from the start.

"Traditionally, server virtualisation implementations have aggregated virtual machines into a single file system, preventing a large percentage of applications from being virtualised due to inadequate performance and flexibility," said Citrix's vice president for virtualisation and management, Gordon Mangione.

"With Essentials for Hyper-V, customers can take advantage of the storage services they already have, while dramatically improving I/O performance and reducing overall disk consumption."

Customers downloading the Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V Express Edition can easily upgrade to the Enterprise or Platinum Editions of the suite, which are licensed at $1,500 (£930) and $3,000 (£1,860) per server respectively.