Citrix Targets Enterprise

The move came after the vendor, based here, said it expects to miss first-quarter earnings expectations.

The Citrix Global 2000 program provides partners with several extra points of profit margin if they successfully sell deeper into enterprise accounts, said Alan Smith, founder and CEO of ThinApse, a Citrix Platinum solution provider in Vancouver, Alberta.

"An ideal sale would be a 50,000-user company that uses Citrix today only to deploy PeopleSoft to 1,000 desktops, and we go in and pick up the additional 49,000 users," Smith said. "It makes sure that the guys who add the value get the compensation."

Partners can also receive extra compensation for qualified new business, he said.

In addition, the Global 2000 program will be administrated by enterprise relationship managers, a group of sales representatives within Citrix that are responsible for working with both enterprise customers and channel partners, said Jim Little, general manager of GTC Systems, a Citrix Platinum solution provider in San Diego.

"They're going to be assigned large accounts, and it will be their job to work with the accounts and with [Global 2000 partners to make sure they get support," Little said. "The program encourages us to work much closer with Citrix."

Calling enterprise accounts a key growth area, Citrix said the program,initially aimed at the 1,000 largest North American companies,provides improved pricing options and account management for these accounts.

Citrix' effort to boost enterprise sales followed closely on the heels of a warning that it expects to miss first-quarter financial expectations. The vendor said it expects to report pro forma earnings of 15 cents or 16 cents per share.

Wall Street analysts had predicted pro forma earnings of 17 cents per share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.

Citrix product licensing during the quarter increased compared with levels in the same quarter last year, but it decreased more than expected vs. the fourth quarter, said Mark Templeton, president and CEO of Citrix, during a conference call.

Citrix plans to release its financial results April 24.