NetScaler: A legacy brand, repositioned for what’s next

Jan 29

Brands are retired every day, but only a handful come back from retirement.

Some brands, even after they disappear, live on in customer language, institutional memory, and market trust. NetScaler is one such brand.

A pioneer in application delivery and security, NetScaler’s technology is relied on by 90% of the Fortune 500. Yet following its acquisition by Citrix in 2005, the NetScaler brand was folded into the Citrix portfolio and formally sunset. Still, for years afterward, customers continued to refer to the brand as they always had: NetScaler.

Seventeen years later, the merger of Citrix and TIBCO created a rare opportunity to bring a trusted name back into the spotlight as a standalone brand. NetScaler didn’t need to be made from scratch. It simply needed to be reintroduced.

That’s where Heirloom came in.

The challenge: relaunching a brand with history

Unlike many rebranding projects, this wasn’t about shedding the past. It was about reclaiming it, while defining a clear future in an increasingly large and complex technology landscape.

Heirloom’s challenge was threefold:

Clarify NetScaler’s role and relevance in today’s security and infrastructure industry
Translate legacy trust into future-facing brand positioning
Create a cohesive brand system flexible enough to support growth, innovation, and scale

To achieve these objectives, we focused on three foundational deliverables: brand strategy, brand messaging, and visual identity.

Brand strategy: creating clarity and focus

Every successful brand begins with strategy.

Heirloom partnered closely with NetScaler to refine its brand strategy, ensuring it aligned tightly with business objectives while remaining clear and actionable for internal teams.

Together, we identified four core brand pillars that dovetailed with NetScaler's business plan, provided clarity and focus for decision making, and unified internal and external communications

These pillars became more than messaging—they formed a strategic framework for decision making. This is the role a true brand strategy consultant plays: translating ambition into a clear path forward.

With the foundation set, we moved from strategy to expression.

Brand messaging: giving the strategy a voice

With the strategic foundation in place, Heirloom developed a messaging framework that brought NetScaler’s positioning to life. Our goals included the following:

Clearly articulate what NetScaler does and why it matters
Balance technical credibility with accuracy and confidence
Ensure consistency across audiences, channels, and use cases

The resulting messaging system supports everything from executive communications to marketing, product storytelling, and brand video, creating a unified voice across the organization.

The visual identity: designing direction and momentum

Introducing the Point

The new visual identity begins with a simple but powerful idea: the Point.

At the center of the logo is a single arrow—a universal symbol of direction, progress, and momentum. The Point reflects NetScaler’s purpose: helping organizations move forward securely, efficiently, and without friction. It suggests that both the company and its customers are always in motion, always improving.

We didn’t treat the logo as an isolated mark. Instead, we built the entire visual system around the Point.

A cohesive brand identity system

The Point became a versatile graphic device used across communications, anchoring the brand visually while allowing flexibility across platforms.

Heirloom defined:

A confident, ownable color palette
A modern, highly legible approach to typography
A consistent photography style
Iconography and illustration systems designed for complex technical storytelling

The result is a complete brand identity—one that balances precision with approachability and scales seamlessly across digital and physical environments.

From strategy to execution: bringing the brand to life

With the visual identity established, the next step was activation.

Heirloom brought the NetScaler brand to life across key touchpoints, including:

A brand launch video
Social media graphics
Environmental signage
Stationery and internal templates

Each application reinforced the same story: NetScaler is back, focused, and built for what’s next.

To ensure consistency over time, all elements were captured in comprehensive brand guidelines—codifying NetScaler’s strategy, voice, and visual standards into a single source of truth.

The end result? A brand reintroduced with purpose. NetScaler reemerged as a standalone brand with a clear positioning and strategy, a confident and clear voice, and distinctive visual identity built to scale.

Why this work matters

Reintroducing a legacy brand requires more than design. It demands strategy, disciplined messaging, and a visual system built for longevity.

As a branding agency, Heirloom helps organizations navigate moments of change—whether that’s growth, separation, or reinvention—by focusing on what matters most: strategy first, expression second, and systems that last. Learn more about our capabilities.