A world leader in virtual computing solutions, Citrix named two new executives to strengthen their roster. These folks are not new to the kind of business Citrix is: Simon Hayes used to work as an executive for another giant but now ailing, Cisco, while Joe Keller is a former Sun-executive Joe Keller. Their proven track records will help the company build stronger alliances in the cloud, virtualization and networking platforms. Hayes will assume the position of Vice President of Strategic Alliances, while Keller takes on challenges on his Vice President of Alliance and Community Marketing role.

According to the official press release: “Hayes will be responsible for global business development and technology partnerships that align with the Citrix strategy for cloud computing, networking and virtualization.  Keller will oversee the team responsible for driving marketing leverage across Citrix global strategic alliance partners, and oversee the rapidly-growing community of technology and IT professionals around the world who interact with Citrix products every day.”

Before the news of these appointments, Citrix has been very visible with various updates that include an impressive first quarter financial results, a partnership with VMware to bring enterprise Apps to Google Chromebooks, and the launch of Startup Accelerator.  They are also making desktop virtualization center stage, with XenDesktop. Just this week they were also selected as the winner for the “Best of Interop 2011” in Wireless and Mobility category.

There have been notable executive appointments that have shaken the tech community recently. In its quest to go public, Millennial Media hired financial expert Jim Tholen to bring the company to IPO. Cisco has lured its competition’s leader, David Yen, to run server unit make-up—this happens while the company suffers from losses in almost all segments of the business. Meanwhile, NComputing declared Raj Dhingra, an ex-Citrix head, as their new CEO.

Already a billion dollar company, Citrix continues its quest in the open cloud market. With two experienced leaders on board, the organization is up for a big year ahead.