Citrix has warned products sold under a legacy licensing scheme will face a “loss of functionality” as the company shifts to a new framework next year.
In a blog post published 8 September, the company detailed plans to move to the new licensing scheme, which is set to come into effect in April 2026. Citrix said this shift will deliver a cloud-based framework in a bid to deliver “streamline licensing and faster support”.
Citrix currently operates under a file-based licensing system, which means that customers receive license files specifically applied to customer-hosted servers or NetScaler consoles. Notably, this means product activations and features require a significant amount of manual management.
Jose Augustin, senior director of product management at Citrix, noted this legacy setup has become an “operational slowdown for users”.
“Manual renewals, file management, and frequent outages tied to licensing issues have generated thousands of support cases every quarter,” he wrote.
“Modern Citrix licensing, with its cloud-based architecture, deeper insight through telemetry, and automated processes, will reduce risk and enable faster, more effective support.”
What the new Citrix licensing scheme offers
Under the new cloud-based License Activation Service (LAS), the firm said it aims to simplify customer experiences by “significantly reducing” operational overheads and automating the process.
This means customers won’t need to manually download, allocate, or manage license files, while entitlement updates will be automated.
“Entitlements are updated automatically in the background upon contract renewal, ensuring uninterrupted service,” Augustin wrote.
“Increased resiliency” was another key advantage touted by the firm. Under the LAS setup, license servers will no longer be a “single point of failure for users sessions” and improve environment stability.”
Looking forward, Augustin said the new LAS system will help the company gain deeper insights into product usage, which will support future R&D projects.
“We continuously gather anonymous, aggregated data on how our products are used,” he wrote. “This “always-on” data shapes our future roadmap, enabling us to deliver features and improvements that directly address your needs and pain points.
“This data-driven approach allows us to allocate our R&D investments more strategically, building higher quality products.”
What Citrix products are impacted?
In a separate advisory, Citrix noted that a raft of products will come under the LAS setup next year, including:
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
- Citrix Provisioning (PVS)
- NetScaler
- XenServer
- Unicorn Scout
After the April 2026 deadline, Citrix warned these products will “stop recognizing file based licenses and will result in a loss of functionality and potential impacts on end-users”.
Exactly what this “loss of functionality” entails is yet to be revealed. ITPro has approached Citrix for clarification.
Augustin urged customers to engage with Citrix partners to help support the transition, adding that previous implementations of this licensing model have delivered improvements.
Since late 2024, Citrix has offered LAS support for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, for example. Augustin noted the firm has “seen hundreds of customers and partners move to utilize this offering with positive reception”.
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