Virtualization solutions maker Citrix had a few major announcements this week, and here are some of the highlights we haven’t covered already.  The company launched a bunch of new offerings that represent a significant extension to its existing portfolio, and among them is the NetScaler CloudConnectors delivery fabric.  The first solution that’s included in the suite is NetScaler CloudConnector for CDN, which aims to optimize a cloud datacenter’s network.

Citrix claims that its new product can boost application response time by up to 5 times, and cut bandwidth consumption by up to 95 percent using TCP optimizations, data compression and dedupe.  This is wrapped up by encryption built into NetScaler CloudConnectors, and is offered as a bundled solution by CDN provider Cotendo.

Alongside CloudConnectors, Citrix further emphasized its focus on the virtualized datacenter with the updated Citrix CloudBridge, which allows users to tap into off-site compute capacity provided by either one of a number of certified providers.

Citrix is targeting cloud providers in particular.  Another new addition to its portfolio is the CloudPortal family, which consists of two offerings that seem to be a combination of a management platform and BI software: CloudPortal Services Manager lets operators administrate users and easily setup new services, while CloudPortal Business Manager provides pricing and billing as well as reporting capabilities, among other things.

Another notable product Citrix announced this week is the latest version of VDI-in-a-Box. The fifth release caters specifically to SMBs, wrapping up all the components needed to power a virtual desktop environment in a single box that costs less than the average PC.  It supports Citrix’s high-definition VDI technology known as HDX, and extends beyond the company’s own hypervisor to vSphere and Hyper-V.  Version 5.0 can be managed remotely as well.