Building for developers, by developers

Citrix’s global engineering teams needed development environments that could keep pace with innovation. They worked across offices, remotely, and on personal devices, but shared a common challenge: traditional tools were slowing them down.

Complex local setups, dependency conflicts, and long onboarding times were standing in the way of productivity. And with code stored on laptops across the globe, the risk to intellectual property was growing.

60
%

TCO savings per user

When traditional tools hold you back

Supporting a distributed developer workforce meant juggling multiple environments, high-spec laptops, and virtual desktops that were expensive to maintain and difficult to scale.

  • Slow onboarding: Setting up new engineers could take days.
  • High support overhead: IT teams were consumed with patching, permissions, and maintenance.
  • Inconsistent experience: Different setups led to variable performance and frequent configuration issues.
  • Rising costs and risk: Hardware investments and locally stored code increased both spend and exposure.

Citrix needed a better way — one that balanced developer freedom with enterprise-grade security.

Creating a platform built for agility and security

To modernize its developer experience, Citrix adopted Strong Network’s secure, cloud-native development platform — long before the company became part of Citrix.

The technology gave Citrix’s distributed engineering teams a consistent, browser-based environment that eliminated local configuration and security risks. Developers could launch standardized, version-controlled Linux containers in minutes — with centralized management and policy control built in.

That same technology now powers Citrix Secure Developer Spaces, the modern developer workspace that combines agility, security, and simplicity in a single platform.

Delivering speed, consistency, and control

With Citrix Secure Developer Spaces, the company’s global engineering teams gained an experience that feels as fast and flexible as coding locally — but with all the benefits of the cloud.

  • Onboarding in minutes: New hires start coding almost instantly, no setup required.
  • Consistent workspaces: Version-controlled containers ensure everyone works in a standardized, up-to-date environment.
  • Fast, responsive tools: Developers enjoy quick compile times and smooth performance, even from the browser.
  • Centralized security: No source code or credentials ever touch local devices. Secure proxies, policy enforcement, and audit visibility ensure full protection across every location and device.

Simplifying management, reducing cost

IT now manages environments from a single control plane — no more image building, patching, or manual provisioning. The shift also cut total cost of ownership by over 60% per user compared to traditional VDI or high-spec laptops.

By replacing a complex stack of WSL2, Docker Desktop, and security tools with one streamlined solution, Citrix dramatically reduced operational overhead while giving developers a better experience.

Building the future on its own platform

Today, Citrix Secure Developer Spaces powers Citrix’s own innovation engine — uniting developers under a consistent, secure, and scalable environment that accelerates delivery without compromise.

It’s a solution built to meet the same challenges faced by any modern enterprise — ensuring teams can innovate quickly, securely, and from anywhere.

Learn more about Citrix SDS: https://bit.ly/4hGuG5Q

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