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VMware Provides Digital Workspaces with Workspace One, Horizon 7 and Horizon Air
Find out what's new in VMware Workspace ONE, Horizon 7 and Horizon Air
Michael Otey
February 11, 2016
4 Min Read
VMware has been making a big push to move from a backend virtualization play to embrace the consumerization of digital workspace delivery. I met with Kevin Strohmeyer Sr. Director, Product Marketing to talk about VMware’s new products that enable digital workspace services This past February 9th 2016 VMware released their new Workspace ONE offering as well as their updated Horizon 7 and Horizon Air products.
Workspace ONE
Kevin talked with me about how consumerization and mobile devices have changed user’s expectations. Apps now come from multiple places including internally developed apps, SaaS apps and even mobile apps. Now enterprise information can be cached on many different devices creating security exposures. Workspace ONE is designed to address these issues with the ability to deliver and manage any app on any device. Workspace ONE integrates identity, application, and mobility management. It aggregates all enterprise user devices, applications and services and manages them with common access and identity. It supports BYOD as well as corporate fully-managed devices. Some of the key features in VMware Workspace ONE include:
Consumer styled self-service access to cloud, mobile, and Windows applications – Workspace ONE provides patent-pending Secure App Token Systems (SATS) technology that establishes trust between the user, device, enterprise and cloud enabling one-touch mobile Single-Sign-On.
Support for BYOD or corporate devices – Workspace ONE provides native iOS, Android and Windows 10 management interfaces to configure laptops, smartphones and tablets. Employees can select the level of services and IT restrictions they are authorized to.
Secure mail, calendar, content, and chat applications – Workspace ONE will include email, calendar, contacts, content and chat applications that are simple enough for consumer consumption but still possess enterprise level security capabilities designed to protect corporate data.
Data and device security with conditional access – VMware Workspace ONE will combine identity and device management using VMware’s ComplianceCheck conditional access technology to enforce access across any application or device. ComplianceCheck incorporates a variety of policies including the strength of authentication, network scope, GPS location, application whitelist/blacklist and third party plug-ins from AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance partners.
Real-Time App delivery – Administrators can automate application delivery and updates using VMware Horizon, VMware App Volumes and VMware AirWatch for security. It will allow users to access Windows applications on all supported devices.
VMware Workspace ONE is expected to be available in Q1 2016. VMware will offer standard, advanced and enterprise editions with prices starting at $8 per user per month for cloud subscriptions and $150 per user for on-premises perpetual licenses. You can find out more at Workspace ONE.
Horizon 7 and Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode
Kevin and I also discussed VMware’s continued advancements in the virtual desktop market. VMware first launched Horizon View their VDI product ten years ago. With the Feb 9th announcement they will offer Horizon 7 and their cloud-based Horizon Air for delivering and managing virtual desktops. The big change with Horizon Air is the incorporation of a new hybrid management model. The new hybrid-mode adds a new cloud-based management plane that enables IT to manage Horizon virtual desktops on-premises and in the cloud. The new hybrid-mode can take advantage of high performance on-premise hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) and VMware’s Virtual SAN. In addition to this hybrid cloud model other new features in VMware Horizon 7 and VMware Horizon Air include:
Just-in-Time virtual desktop delivery built on VMware Instant Clone – VMware’s Instant Clone technology provides the ability to provision 2,000 personalized digital desktops in under 20 minutes. These virtual applications and desktops are delivered on-demand and can be disposed upon logout. Application and OS patches can be applied between sessions with no end user disruption.
New Blast Extreme protocol – VMware is introducing a new display protocol that is optimized for mobile cloud networks. It will support UDP and TCP/IP and will offer GPU off-load to increase performance for H.264 capable devices. Users have the choice of the new Blast Extreme or the older PCoIP protocols.
Integration with VMware App Volumes – The new VMware App Volumes 3.0 enables the creation, deployment and management of applications providing integrated end-user management and monitoring.
Smart Policies (VMware Horizon 7 only) – Enterprise IT security will be improved through a real-time, policy-based solution that uses contextual and role-based management. It provides USB and clipboard control, drive redirection and protocol settings. Single Sign-On from VMware Identity Manager enables mobile users to have password-free access to virtual Windows desktops.
Integration with VMware Workspace ONE – Workspace ONE integration provides self-service support for mobile devices, virtual applications and desktops.
VMware Horizon 7 and VMware Horizon Air with Hybrid-mode are expected to be generally available this quarter. VMware Horizon 7 pricing starts at $250 per user for on-premises perpetual licenses. VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-mode cloud subscription pricing starts at $16 per user per month for named users and $26 per user per month for concurrent connections. You can click here to find out more about Horizon 7 and Horizon Air.
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