Citrix Systems, Inc. today announced a development and distribution agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) to integrate an HP-specific version of Citrix XenServer into 10 models of 64-bit HP ProLiant servers.

Citrix worked with HP to develop a version of XenServer called HP Select Edition, which is different from XenServer in that it is tied into HP management tools, like HP Insight Control and HP Integrated Lights-Out for remote server management, a Citrix spokesperson explained.

Existing ProLiant server users can upgrade and virtualize their servers with XenServer with a license key and USB drive, according to a Citrix spokesperson.

Citrix XenServer HP Select Edition will be available and supported by HP starting on March 31, 2008.

As previously reported on SearchServervirtualization.com, HP started reselling XenServer back in October, but hadn’t agreed to pre-install the virtualization technology into its servers until today. At that time, Dell announced plans to resell and pre-install the OEM edition of XenServer into its PowerEdge servers.

Earlier this month, Lenovo also announced its plans to use the OEM edition in its servers and distribute it in China.