Citrix Technology Professional
According to Citrix, a Citrix Technology Professional (CTP) award is given to individuals "who have invested a significant amount of time and resources to become experts in Citrix products and solutions."The awardees are those who have shared knowledge and helped Citrix with their community presence.
History
The CTP program was launched in 2006 with 11 well-known Citrix Community members. According to Brian Madden's article, Citrix had tried to create a program similar to the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional program for years. The Program was called the "CVP" program but Citrix had killed the program, according to Brian Madden. The initial members, listed below, first met at BriForum 2006 and the program was born. The original members were: Shawn Bass (USA) Douglas Brown (USA) Rick Dehlinger (USA) Jeroen van de Kamp (The Netherlands) Thomas Koetzing (Germany) Rick Mack (Australia) Brian Madden (USA) Ron Oglesby (USA) Jeff Pitsch (USA) Bernhard Tritsch (Germany) Stefan Vermeulen (The Netherlands)
Criteria
The CTP program is seen as highly selective since Citrix caps the CTP program to 50 individuals each year. Applications are taken annually and based on the number of applicants and current CTPs retiring, the number stays at 50 CTPs or less. Due to the limit, the program allows those who leave to keep the CTP Alumni status, however they are not able to participate or receive the CTP benefits. CTPs must be non-Citrix employees and not have a conflict of interest from a competing employer or arrangement.
Benefits
CTPs are able to participate in road maps and planning for Citrix products and technologies and have access to product managers and other employees at Citrix. CTPs also speak at Citrix events and promote the company at trade shows, online presence and through demos. The other benefits include paid attendance at Citrix events.
Locating an CTP
Citrix hosts a site listing all current CTPs to help identify members and also to find their location and expertise. Most CTPs can be contacted via social media tools, especially LinkedIn or Twitter (these are listed on the site).