Citrix Acquires ShareFile for Cloud Storage, Collaboration

Citrix has completed the acquisition of ShareFile, a cloud storage, sharing and collaboration service provider along the same lines as Box.net, for an undisclosed sum. Apparently, Citrix is hoping to get into the “follow-me” data market, capitalizing on what the venerable virtualization provider refers to as the switch from personal computing to personal clouds.

It’s the same old story: As the workforce gets more and more mobile, users need anywhere, anytime access to mission-critical data. Enter that “personal cloud” concept, as everyone begins to accrue a lineup of favorite cloud applications and data repositories that grant that mobility while also making it easier to facilitate peer collaboration. By 2015, Citrix said it expects the cloud industry to be worth billions.

That’s where ShareFile and its cloud storage solution comes in. ShareFile CEO Jesse Lipson will become vice president and general manager of the brand new Citrix Data Sharing product group, and this new team will continue to develop the product line. But more intriguingly, according to the press release, Lipson and company will work on furthering what Citrix is calling its data platform:

It’s a natural fit for Citrix — the company’s cloud-hosted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) initiatives and partnerships this year already try to bring applications to everybody everywhere. Taking more abstract data and doing the same is a perfect extension.