Citrix=Niche? Hardly.
That anyone would use "Citrix" and "niche" in the same sentence is astounding. If you work for any large IT enterprise, anywhere in the world, there is nonstop talk of RAS, virtualization, VDI, thin client, cloud computing, etc. ad infinitum. Citrix is either the leader or the second-leading provider for every one of those technologies. I work for a company that is deploying 10,000 thin clients - using a Citrix back end infrastructure - in the next 12 months. I can list dozens of other large corporations that are heavily invested in thin client projects, many of them deploying 5 and 6 times the number of thin clients as my employer, and all of them using Citrix to host the desktop.
Furthermore, what technology exactly do you think allows for the mass outsourcing about which we've all been wringing our hands for the last 10 years? That's right, Citrix. If you have developers, client contact centers and support desks in Mumbai, but your server infrastructure is in New York, Citrix is what makes that possible. There is no competing technology (OK, MS Terminal Services/RDS, but really now), and virtually no other way to do it. Have you ever tried to use a development platform over a 10MB MPLS link where the server is halfway around the world? Painful doesn't even begin to describe that what that experience is like. Add Citrix into the mix, and a company in Bangalore is now doing all of your development work for you, for 10% of what it would have cost you to do that same work onshore, and you didn???t have to move a single server from your New York data center. Every time you call the support line for a North American company, and your call is answered offshore, that's Citrix at work. Every. Single. Time.
So is Citrix niche? Well, if you work in a traditional desktop support role, perhaps you wish it was. But I???ll argue that if you want a long a prosperous career in IT, if you want to get into consulting and really make some good money, Citrix should be high on your list of certifications
