For years, Citrix has been a cornerstone of end-user computing (EUC) for countless UK organisations, providing the virtual apps and desktops that power daily operations. However, the landscape is shifting. The recent acquisition by Broadcom has introduced a period of significant uncertainty, leaving IT leaders to navigate potential price hikes, abrupt licensing changes, and questions about the platform’s future.
This isn’t just a supplier change; it’s a strategic inflection point. It presents a compelling opportunity to evaluate whether your current EUC solution is truly fit for a modern, cloud-centric future. Is it time to move from managing complex infrastructure to delivering seamless, secure value to your users?
The Catalyst for Change: The Citrix Challenge
If you are an existing Citrix customer, you may be facing a number of pressing concerns that make re-evaluating your strategy a top priority.
- Cost Uncertainty & Price Hikes: Many customers are reporting substantial increases in their renewal costs. The aggressive shift away from perpetual licenses towards subscription-only bundles can force organisations to pay for products they don’t need, making budget forecasting a significant challenge.
- Inflexible Licensing Models: The simplification of product lines could mean the end of the specific editions you rely on, forcing an expensive move to an all-encompassing package. This lack of flexibility particularly penalises organisations that have a tailored, specific use case for VDI or app streaming.
- Innovation and Support Concerns: With any major acquisition, it is natural to have concerns about the pace of future innovation and the quality of customer support. Is the platform you have invested so heavily in still a strategic priority for its new owners?
The Modern Alternative: AWS End-User Computing
Instead of being locked into an uncertain and potentially more expensive future, organisations have the power to pivot to a platform built from the ground up for flexibility, scalability, and cost control: Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS End-User Computing (EUC) services transform how you deliver desktops and applications. By leveraging the world’s leading cloud platform, you can:
- Optimise Costs with a Pay-As-You-Go Model: Move away from large, upfront capital expenditure and rigid licensing. With AWS, you shift to a flexible operational model, paying only for the resources you actually consume and scaling up or down to meet real-time business demand.
- Enhance Your Security Posture: Leverage the robust, multi-layered security built into the AWS cloud. Protect your critical applications and sensitive data with world-class infrastructure and a comprehensive suite of security services.
- Achieve Unmatched Scalability and Agility: Onboard hundreds or thousands of users in minutes, not weeks, anywhere in the world. Respond to business needs—from supporting remote work to integrating a new acquisition—with true agility.
A Closer Look at the AWS EUC Services
The AWS EUC portfolio provides direct, modern alternatives to the core Citrix functionalities. The two primary services are:
- Amazon WorkSpaces: For organisations needing to provide a full virtual desktop experience (VDI), Amazon WorkSpaces delivers a secure, managed Cloud Desktop. It is the ideal replacement for Citrix Virtual Desktops, offering various performance and software bundles to perfectly match your user personas, from administrative staff to data scientists.
- Amazon AppStream 2.0: To securely deliver specific applications to any user on any device, Amazon AppStream 2.0 is the perfect alternative to Citrix Virtual Apps. Your applications are centrally managed on AWS, with only their pixels streamed to a user’s web browser. This simplifies application management, removes infrastructure headaches, and ensures your company data remains secure within your cloud environment.
Your Migration Pathway with Mobilise
Migrating your EUC estate may seem daunting, but the financial and technical benefits are closer than you think. As an AWS Advanced Partner and an accredited AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) Partner, Mobilise not only brings a proven methodology but can also help you secure significant funding to offset the cost of your migration.
Our phased approach is designed to de-risk the process, accelerate your time-to-value, and maximise financial incentives from AWS:
- Discovery & Assessment: We begin by working closely with you to perform a deep-dive analysis of your current Citrix estate, understand your unique user personas, map application dependencies, and align the project with your core business objectives.
- MAP Funding & Business Case: As AWS MAP partners, we work with you to build a compelling business case and access AWS funding programmes. These financial incentives can significantly reduce the cost of assessment, proof-of-concept, and the migration itself.
- Strategy & Design: Our expert cloud architects design a secure, cost-optimised, and high-performance AWS EUC solution. This bespoke architecture is tailored to your specific needs, leveraging core AWS services like AWS Directory Service for seamless Active Directory integration.
- Proof of Concept (PoC): We build a pilot environment for a select group of users. This allows us to validate the solution, test application performance, and gather crucial user feedback before a full-scale rollout.
- Migration & Application Modernisation: Following a successful PoC, we manage the phased migration of your users to AWS. This is also an opportunity for Application Modernisation, where we can help you optimise legacy applications for better performance and efficiency in the cloud.
- Optimisation & Managed Services: Our partnership doesn’t end at go-live. We provide ongoing support, continuous cost optimisation, and a full suite of Managed Services to ensure your new EUC environment continues to deliver maximum business value.
It’s Time to Take Control of Your EUC Strategy
The changes in the Citrix landscape are a powerful catalyst for positive transformation. This is your chance to break free from rigid licensing, unpredictable costs, and legacy infrastructure. By migrating to AWS, you can build an End-User Computing platform that is more secure, scalable, and cost-effective—one that truly supports the dynamic needs of your modern business. Best of all, with significant financial incentives available through the AWS MAP programme, the business case for making the switch has never been stronger.
Ready to explore your future beyond Citrix?
Contact the cloud experts at Mobilise today to book a complimentary, no-obligation EUC discovery workshop. Let us help you map your journey to a modern desktop and application experience on AWS.
