Thin-client specialist Citrix Systems has completed its $500m (£245m) acquisition of open source software firm Xensource.

The VMWare rival will help Citrix to provide server and desktop virtualisation to businesses. The company predicts that the market for these services will grow to nearly $5bn over the next four years.

Xensource staff will now form the core of Citrix's virtualisation and management division.

“The XenSource products, team and culture are a great addition to the Citrix family,” said Citrix chief executive Mark Templeton.

“The combination of Citrix and XenSource brings together application, desktop and server virtualisation to deliver more innovation, choice and flexibility to the market, including our installed base of more than 200,000 customers worldwide.

"As application delivery becomes a top issue for IT and the world becomes more dynamic, we find it important to be sure we are providing customers the most cutting-edge technologies out there.”