Citrix Systems Inc has acquired privately-held Architecture Projects Management Ltd, the Cambridge, UK-based consultancy and research company, as part of its effort to add Java application management and deployment capabilities to its WinFrame and MetaFrame thin client software products. Citrix has paid the $40m cash mainly for APM’s Digitivity Java applet deployment, management and security unit. Digitivity’s products include Code Conductor, which is a server-centric way of deploying Java applets and applications comprising AppRouter, Digitivity J/Server and BrowserBridge. It executes Java applications in a secure environment then displays the application on remote desktops. Digitivity also has the Applet Management System product family, of which the main product is Cage, which includes an AppRouter which sits between the user’s browser and the firewall, and the CageServer which resides outside the firewall and hosts Java applets. Citrix must now live or die by its ability to add multi-platform capabilities to its software, as Microsoft Corp is about to usurp its original business of providing thin client support for Windows NT with the forthcoming launch of Windows Terminal Server. Last year, Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Citrix was talking about adding Java capabilities to the ICA communications protocol that underlies its products (CI No 3,103) but that work never materialized. Digitivity’s BrowserBridge works in a similar way to ICA, the company said on Friday. Extending ICA with Java would enable Citrix to include Java desktops in its thin client systems. Citrix will retain APM’s Cambridge, UK-based research laboratories, but the company’s Los Altos facility was said to be in transition. Some 45 of the company’s 50 employees have said they will move to Citrix. APM was the lead sponsor of the European ANSA Joint Research Program, which specialized in distributed computing research. ANSA is being wound down by the end of this year. As a result of the acquisition, Citrix will take a one-time hit of $33m for purchased in-process research and development against its second quarter figures.
