VMworld 2017 Executive Briefing: VMware Evolves Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management

I met with Jason Roszak, Product Management for VMware to discuss the latest changes that VMware has made in their evolving support for end user management. Roszak told me that the biggest change for unified endpoint management was in VMware’s new Workspace ONE platform. Roszak explained “We’ve unified Workspace ONE across all endpoints. We’ve extended the idea of a workspace from a mobile device to your laptops as well.”

Workspace ONE Enables Any Device Any Platform

Built on the foundation of Airwatch and Horizon, the new Workspace ONE platform enables unified endpoint management. Jason said the new platform supports “Any device and any application.” Workspace ONE can deliver any type of app to any type of device. There is no separation between mobile and desktop management. The new Workspace ONE can manage Windows 10, macOS, Chrome OS, iOS, and Android.

Roszak said that one of the biggest changes is the support for Windows 10. Windows supports APIs for mobile management 10 like a mobile device.  Device management capabilities is built-in to the core OS. There’s no need for on-premise Identity management with AD. The embedded Airwatch can deliver policy management to windows 10 just like the other type of devices managed by Workspace ONE.

Workplace ONE enables end user self-service access. Administrators publish the apps that each user is authorized to and the user can then use the app no matter which platform they are using. Jason mentions that this represents a shift from device driven to user centric world. VMware intends to offer a Standard, Advanced and Enterprise editions of Workspace ONE.

Workspace ONE Intelligence provides advanced app troubleshooting

Roszak mentioned that VMware is also offering Workspace ONE Intelligence as an add-on to the new Workspace ONE platform that can provide application problem analysis and troubleshooting. Roszak said, “Now through our cloud backend we can collect historical data on how enterprises are using Workspace ONE to deploy applications, secure devices, whatever the use case is, and start to deliver intelligent insights into the goals they are trying to accomplish.” The add-on provides insight into application deployments, usage, security and the user experience. A built-in rules engine enables real-time security and performance optimization.