WorldCity Business Magazine

Billion-dollar baby

by Richard Westlund

The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore needed a way for researchers around the world to access the university’s network. It turned to a technology solution called GoToMyPC. That’s the same system that the Alaska Department of Corrections tapped in January so its 1,250 employees dispersed at 29 facilities could access secure information.

The two entities are among more than 160,000 corporations, governments and individuals around the world – including 98 percent of the Fortune 500 global companies – that use technology solutions produced by Citrix Systems. The company sells software that allows personal computers and other devices to access applications across wired and wireless networks.

Following a string of acquisitions in 2005, the Fort Lauderdale company has broadened its product line and stands poised to become South Florida’s next billion-dollar company.

Industry analysts and area business leaders credit Mark Templeton, the president and CEO of Citrix, for remarkable growth over the past decade.

“Mark is a driven, high-profile leader and visionary,” says James Tarlton, CEO of The Broward Alliance and former Citrix vice president. “Mark has been at the core of building a strong sustainable business with competitive leading-edge capability.”

Templeton says the company’s approach to its customers is one of the reasons it has emerged as a global leader in the fast-changing, highly competitive technology sector. “Our people have a passion to make our customers successful by providing outstanding service and innovation technology,” he says. “We look at our customers as part of the team. We partner with them to ensure we are responding to their needs.”

Staying in touch with customers is one of Templeton’s top personal priorities.

“I talk to customers and talk to more customers, first and foremost,” he says. “I am also an early adopter of all the cutting-edge technology. I want to see, feel and experience what all the hype is about and make my own judgment based on my experience and what customers are telling me.”

In leading Citrix’s 3,000 employees, Templeton believes his greatest accomplishment is recruiting top-quality people to his executive team. “I like to foster healthy debate and achieve consensus when possible,” he adds. “I’m not afraid to make a decision, though.”

Before joining Citrix in 1995 as vice president of marketing, Templeton spent more than a dozen years in management positions for technology companies UB Networks, Keyfile Corp. and LANSystems. “I looked at what Citrix was doing and believed wholeheartedly that the company was being very innovative and would go places,” says Templeton. “Second, the Citrix culture – one where the people matter – was appealing to me.”

Under Templeton’s leadership, Citrix is on a path to become one of South Florida’s few billion-dollar companies. In January, the company projected that net revenue for 2006 would reach $1.03 billion to $1.06 billion. That would represent steady continued growth for the company, which saw revenues climb from $741 million in 2004 to $909 million in 2005. Net income in 2005 was $166 million, up from $132 million a year earlier.

In early March, several investment banks, including JP Morgan and Banc of America Securities, upgraded the company’s rating to “buy.” About the same time, Citrix announced an alliance with Cisco Systems to develop and package IP solutions, including telephone voice applications, together.

Boosting its position

In August 2005, Citrix announced that it was acquiring NetScaler, a leading provider of solutions that enhance the performance, security and reliability of Web-based applications. Then, in November, Citrix bought Teros, which develops security solutions for Web and XML Web services applications.

Citrix also extended its range of offerings thanks to the introduction of Citrix Hospitality Voice Services, a new IP telephony package designed for the hospitality industry.

Even as it branches out, the company’s core products continue to grow.

“Citrix GoToMyPC is truly taking a hold in the corporate business segment,” Stephen Drake, research director at technology media company IDC, said in an October report. “Its technology, in terms of features and critical components such as security, give the company a strategic advantage.”

Today, Citrix is one of South Florida’s truly global companies, with roughly half of its revenue coming from outside North America.

“Europe, the Middle East and Africa contribute about 40 percent of our revenue, with the rest coming from Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia Pacific region,” Templeton says, “so, the international markets are very important to us.”

Templeton expects North America and Europe to continue to offer strong growth potential for the company. “Certainly, Asia Pacific and Latin America are great opportunities as well,” he says, adding that they are fairly new regions for the company.

Templeton says Citrix’s biggest challenge will be to manage the rapid growth. “For a long time Citrix operated as a one-product company with essentially one route to market, an indirect channel,” the CEO says. “Today, we have four different product groups, three based in California.

“We want to continue our rapid growth by building new products and through acquisition,” he adds. “We need to manage the maturation effectively, keep good balance and ensure we have the right people and processes in place.”