By Staff Report Friday, December 17th, 2010

Goleta-based Citrix Online, a maker of Web-delivered business collaboration software and a major tri-county tech employer, is acquiring a German firm to expand its reach in Europe.

Citrix Online said on Dec. 17 that it has agreed to buy Netviewer, a private German firm that offers similar products. The price of the deal was not disclosed, but the companies said in a release that Netviewer has about 18,000 customers throughout Europe and the U.K. The transaction is expected to close early next year.

[wikichart align=”right” ticker=”CTXS” showannotations=”true” livequote=”true” rollingdate=”6 months” width=”300″ height=”245″]Citrix Online is a division of Florida-based Citrix Systems. It employs about 500 people in the region, and its revenue for the first nine months of the year was up 15 percent this year to $265.8 million.

“With the acquisition of a company that shares our vision, we will continue to execute on our strategy for global expansion and accelerated growth by delivering products that offer a simpler, better experience to enable customers to succeed,” Brett Caine, head of the Citrix Online division, said in a news release.

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