Sadly, I won’t be joining in the Synergy fun in Los Angeles. But I’m happy to offer a few tips for somewhat off-the-beaten-path things to do for the lucky Citrites who will be in Los Angeles next week for our big tech conference. I lived in and around Los Angeles for eight years before making the move to Raleigh, and while there are certainly things I don’t miss (traffic, smog, traffic), there are a lot of things I really miss. Here are five of them:

1. Cha Cha Chicken in Santa Monica. Caribbean food, very casual atmosphere, awesome plantains and beans. It’s not fancy. But it’s delicious. And you can stroll up the boardwalk after you stuff yourself full of L.A.’s yummiest Jamaican jerk chicken.

2. Contemporary art at Bergamot Station. After lunch at Cha Cha Chicken, head over to the city’s best collection of contemporary art galleries and see great art by emerging artists in L.A. and beyond. (If you like more a more traditional art scene, you can’t go wrong with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The J. Paul Getty or my personal favorite, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena — a smaller collection, but nearly every piece is something you studied in Art History 101).

In today’s session conducted by Jesse Lipson and Ed Cheely live from Synergy Barcelona, attendees will learn how ShareFile is used as an alternative to FTP and email attachments, common use cases, and more info around plug-ins and downloadable power tools offered.

The big announcement is regarding our new mobile app. Our customers spoke. We listened. The new app will feature sync capability, enhanced security using encryption APIs, ability to upload files and remote wipe. This just in… the app was submitted to the Apple App Store less than 24 hours ago.

The new ShareFile mobile app with allow users to get seamless access to all files and folders on-the-go. Earlier this year, we released file sharing applications for the Apple iPad and iPhone, Android phone and tablet, Windows phone and an app for Blackberry users. Apps are available free to download for ShareFile customers.

Today at Citrix Synergy, Citrix announced it is opening up ShareFile to create an extensible platform for sharing business data across a wide range of apps, devices and services. The new “Follow-Me-Data” platform will make it easy for third-party developers and vendors to incorporate common data services like search, share, sync, secure and remote wipe into their solutions through a set of open APIs.

ShareFile fits perfectly into the Follow-Me-Data vision of anywhere, anytime access to data and collaboration. The ShareFile service will continue to make it easy for businesses of all sizes to securely store, sync and share business documents and files, both inside and outside the company. Our centralized cloud storage capability allows users to share files across multiple devices and access them from any location, hence “Follow-Me-Data.”

As you are probably already aware, on October 13th, 2011 Citrix acquired ShareFile. ShareFile CEO, Jesse Lipson, will become Vice President and General Manager of the newly-formed Data Sharing product group at Citrix. This group will be responsible for the ShareFile product line, as well as enabling the Citrix “follow-me-data” strategy. We are excited to now be a part of Citrix, as having access to even more resources will allow us to continue providing the easiest to use, most professional business file sharing service on the market. We will also continue to provide the same great software and services to our customers.

Citrix will reveal more of its plans for ShareFile and the “follow-me-data” strategy next week, October 26th-28th at Citrix Synergy™ Barcelona. Jesse Lipson, and Ed Cheely, who leads worldwide sales for the ShareFile product, will lead an informative breakout session and educate attendees on ShareFile. Attendees will learn how ShareFile applies to their business and how ShareFile differentiates from competitors.

Citrix Systems today announced it has completed the acquisition of ShareFile, a market leading provider of secure, cloud-based data storage, sharing and collaboration. The ShareFile product line makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to securely store, sync and share business documents and files, both inside and outside the company. ShareFile’s centralized cloud storage capability also allows users to share files across multiple devices and access them from any location. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.