VMware has refreshed its virtual desktop infrastructure solution to include a single unified workspace and the ability to deliver published applications.
The company said Wednesday that Horizon 6 is the most comprehensive centralized management desktop solution, depending on which edition customers buy.
“Customers want to transform their applications and enterprise desktops for the mobile cloud era – extending access to employees on any device, from anywhere via a comprehensive solution that is simple, secure and cost effective,” Sumit Dhawan, VMware’s vice president and general manager for desktop products said in a statement. “VMware Horizon addresses these issues and delivers amazing new capabilities to our customers at nearly the same cost as a traditional, physical desktop. Horizon 6 represents a major product milestone that continues the rapid pace of innovation from VMware, and helps customers take the next step in their desktop journey.”
New capabilities include:
–delivery of published Windows applications, RDS-based desktops and virtual desktops across devices and locations. The new capabilities are built on a single platform that is an extension of Horizon View;
–a unified workspace that supports the delivery of virtualized applications hosted in the datacentre or locally on the device, web and SaaS applications, RDS hosted applications, and published applications from third party platforms, such as Citrix XenApp, with single sign-on;
–optimization for VMware’s Virtual SAN, which uses local storage;
–closed-loop management and automation through the new vCenter Operations for View , which provides health and risk monitoring, proactive end-user experience monitoring and deep diagnostics from datacentre-to-device all within a single console;
Horizon 6 also supports automation and self-service through vCloud Automation Center, allowing IT to provide line-of-business users with the ability to request desktops and applications by using built-in workflows and automated infrastructure provisioning;
–hybrid cloud delivery. A new Horizon 6 client connects to virtual desktops and applications running in an on-premise cloud, a service provider partner cloud, or through VMware’s vCloud Hybrid Service.
“Today’s announcement of VMware Horizon 6 continues our momentum in end-user computing, bringing the best solutions for desktop, mobile and content collaboration via a secure virtual workspace,” said Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing,VMware. “As a recognized innovator in the industry,VMware’s ambition is to provide end-users their apps and content served to them securely – anywhere, anyplace and anytime – whether on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.”
With the end of Horizon Suite this month, Horizon will be available in three editions:
-Horizon View Standard Edition for creating virtual desktops;
–Horizon Advanced Edition, for published and virtual applications and desktops using Virtual SAN. It includes central image management and unified workspace’
–Horizon Enterprise Edition for cloud delivery.
Horizon 6 will be available in the second quarter. It will be licenced per named user or concurrent user starting at US$250.