Citrix debuts free developer version of NetScaler

Digital business transformation is driving line of business (LOB) to adopt rapid application development and deployment methodologies, such as DevOps. To stay ahead of the competition and adapt to rapidly changing customer and market demands, businesses and governments must automate and continuously adjust key processes.
To do so, companies are increasingly developing their own applications to improve internal productivity and enhance customer engagement. Today, Citrix announced NetScaler CPX Express, a free developer version of NetScaler CPX, which is a NetScaler in a container form factor that delivers a battle-tested load balancer for developers to create microservices applications.
Unlike Free and Open-Source Software (F/OSS) alternatives, NetScaler CPX Express is a full-featured microservices-aware load balancer that gives developers the same enterprise-grade, secure functionality of the market-leading NetScaler platform which is deployed in more than 20 000 enterprise customers and the largest public clouds worldwide.
NetScaler CPX Express has the same codebase, REST API, and operations interface as the NetScaler ADC, enabling a seamless transition of application delivery infrastructure from development to deployment cycles. NetScaler CPX Express provides microservices application developers with:
* Application-savvy load balancing capabilities;
* Easy, in-service upgrades with no disruption to microservices;
* Advanced security capabilities such as SSL offload and protection against network, transport, application-layer DDoS threat vectors and API rate limiting for DDOS attack mitigation;
* Service discovery and auto reconfiguration with Google Kubernetes, Docker Swarm and Apache Mesos container management systems;
* Real-time visibility, management and analytics through integration with the NetScaler Management and Analytics System; and
* The ability to get up and running in less than five minutes.
Ash Chowdappa, vice-president and GM: NetScaler at Citrix, comments: “Citrix is continually innovating to deliver solutions for traditional IT as well as emerging ADC requirements of DevOps and developer communities. With our market-leading NetScaler ADC platform, we are empowering developers to build, test and deploy apps all on a single integrated, scalable and secure platform. NetScaler CPX Express enables developers to drive applications into full-scale production quicker than any other alternative available today.”