Citrix has created a “Platform License” that it will offer by invitation only, and stopped selling some products outside bundles.

The new license covers everything Citrix already develops – plus any code it acquires in future – and is billed as everything needed to run, secure, and manage virtual desktops, the endpoints that touch them, and the networks that deliver them. The latter functions come from the NetScaler application delivery suite, which just last year was rebranded from Citrix ADC to help it compete as a standalone offering.

Citrix Analytics, uberAgent, and Citrix Secure Private Access are also bundled under the Platform License – but are no longer sold as standalone products.

VMware customers may find that arrangement familiar, as it’s pretty much exactly what Broadcom just did with the virtualization giant’s products.

Like Broadcom, Citrix has justified selling bundles on the grounds of making life simpler for customers.

“Previously, you had to navigate a variety of editions and add-ons to get valuable features such as workspace environment management, provisioning, or ServiceNow Integration,” wrote Citrix general manager Sridhar Mullapudi. “Likewise, there were countless variations of NetScaler features and capacity to decide on.

“We have eliminated all of that complexity, making all Citrix enterprise-grade capabilities available in two, value-driven platform-based offerings that include not just DaaS and VDI [desktop-as-a-service and desktop virtualization] – but also the industry-leading capabilities of NetScaler for application delivery and security.”

The second platform Mullapudi mentioned is called “Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud” and adds NetScaler and Citrix Endpoint Management to the Universal License Citrix introduced in March 2023 – though the NetScaler license is limited to throughput capacity of 1000Gbit/sec.

Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud is only offered for 250 or more seats. It’s unclear what makes a buyer eligible for the Platform License.

Both license bundles include support and educational material.

Citrix’s intent for these licenses is clear: aside from getting you to buy all its stuff, Mullapudi pitched the platform as an alternative to VMware’s Horizon virtual desktop suite, which has just been acquired by KKR. Citrix’s boss suggested Horizon users who migrate will appreciate the presence of NetScaler as it means they can do without licenses for rival application delivery controllers and VPNs.

The debut of the Platform License comes a year and three days after Citrix stopped selling perpetual licenses and required subscriptions.

The Register made several requests for a chat about that strategy – all of which were rebuffed.

We’ve asked for details on the new licenses – especially pricing and the fate of standalone subscriptions for all Citrix products – and were advised that those who understood the nuances could not be reached in the early evening Pacific Time, but that a response should be forthcoming the next morning. We’ll update this story if we receive a substantive response.

Another matter we’ve asked Citrix’s parent company, Cloud Software Group, to comment on is the strategy of the freshly independent server virtualization business, XenServer.

We mention that in this story because neither Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud nor the Platform License includes server virtualization – an interesting omission as past iterations of Citrix strategy emphasized tuning its hypervisors to be the optimal environment for hosting its other wares.