infrastructure. Terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Waltham, Mass.-based Ardence has two product groups -- one focused on real-time operating system software; and the other, more recent group specialized in on-demand OS and application provisioning software.
Ardence is currently best known for its
RTX software, a deterministic, real-time extension to Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded. The technology behind RTX originated in a mid-1980's Venturcom product known as
Venix, which was a real-time version of Unix. Recently, Ardence has
collaborated with Intel on virtualization technology, with the goal of creating a "Virtual Machine Monitor" (VMM) to manage access to the host's hardware resources.
On-demand application provisioning, Ardence's other key product line, uses a technology Ardence calls "
software streaming" to enable both the operating system and applications to be delivered to a "bare metal" machine from virtual disks on a centralized server.
Citrix says it will continue selling Ardence's two product lines under their existing brand names. Additionally, Ardence's existing partnerships and reseller alliances will be maintained.
Lou Shipley, general manager of Citrix's Management Systems Group, to whom the Ardence will report, stated, "With this acquisition, Citrix takes a leap forward in the on demand provisioning of desktops, server images and service oriented architecture objects."
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