Since the launch of VMware Horizon 8 in 2020, we have released several updates, including two extended service branch (ESB) releases with Horizon 8 2111 and Horizon 8 2212.  

With general support ending for Horizon 7 on April 30, 2023, now is the time to upgrade to Horizon 8. Upgrading will ensure uninterrupted support for your Horizon environment beyond April, plus you’ll also be able to take advantage of some great new features only available on Horizon 8. Let’s look at more reasons to upgrade to Horizon 8.  

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Philip Sellers

VMware is attempting to disrupt the app publishing market with the introduction of its new "Apps On Demand" technology in App Volumes.  Apps On Demand enables just in time delivery of applications to users without the typical delays during login and with ease of administration.  With many choices for packing, App Volumes enables Apps On Demand to leverage your existing application packages and deliver them seamlessly to your users.  Boasting 99% success rate in packaging, VMware's App Volumes is succeeding where other solutions struggle.   

Host: Philip Sellers
Co-host: Rizwan Shaikh

VMware Horizon is a virtualization software product for delivering desktops and apps on Windows, Linux, and MacOS systems. It is especially relevant today because so many of us are working remotely. Whether you’re a system administrator or a pizza deliverer, you need easy access to the apps and desktops that help you do your job. And you need that access to be secure.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Philip Sellers

VMware Horizon is a virtualization software product for delivering desktops and apps on Windows, Linux, and MacOS systems. It is especially relevant today because so many of us are working remotely. Whether you’re a system administrator or a pizza deliverer, you need easy access to the apps and desktops that help you do your job. And you need that access to be secure.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Philip Sellers

VMware Horizon is a virtualization software product for delivering desktops and apps on Windows, Linux, and MacOS systems. It is especially relevant today because so many of us are working remotely. Whether you’re a system administrator or a pizza deliverer, you need easy access to the apps and desktops that help you do your job. And you need that access to be secure.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Philip Sellers
Co-host: Moin Khan

Last year at VMworld, we announced the VMware Horizon next-generation hybrid DaaS architecture. For us, “next-gen” represents a complete rewrite of the Horizon architecture that allows us to modernize every corner of the desktop and app virtualization infrastructure so many customers rely on, built entirely from the ground up. For customers, it means unprecedented scalability and cost optimization along with a dramatic simplification of the infrastructure required to deliver enterprise-class desktop and app virtualization. 

Earlier this year we launched a Limited Availability program for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure customers, and today we’re pleased to announce that Horizon Cloud next-gen is now Generally Available to all Horizon Cloud environments on Microsoft Azure! 

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Rizwan Shaikh

Just a few weeks ago at VMware Explore, I presented a session called “What’s New in Anywhere Workspace.” In that session, I showcased many new innovations in our VMware Horizon solution, including enhancements to our VMware Blast protocol, next-generation hybrid cloud support, and improvements in scalability. Another key announcement was our collaboration with Amazon Web Services for Horizon on Amazon WorkSpaces. I encourage you to watch the recording to see how our Horizon 8 platform can bring the power of our Blast protocol to Amazon WorkSpaces. We’re partnering to provide an optimized user experience for Amazon WorkSpaces end users across devices, locations, media, and network connections. Customers can also benefit from the hybrid cloud virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) management capabilities of Horizon 8, from on-premises to Amazon WorkSpaces.  

Today, we are excited to build on our collaboration with Amazon to provide even more flexibility and choice for desktop and app virtualization infrastructure with Horizon and Amazon WorkSpaces Core integration. In addition to deploying Horizon virtual desktops on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS, when available, customers will be able to also deploy Horizon virtual desktops on Amazon WorkSpaces and on Amazon WorkSpaces Core. Amazon WorkSpaces Core extends Amazon WorkSpaces services by providing a set of new APIs that can be used for integrations by partners like VMware to seamlessly provision and manage Amazon WorkSpaces Core capacity.  

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Shawn Bass

VMware Horizon 2206 is now available, and this release includes new features that further enhance the end-user experience and improve the overall security and performance of virtual desktops and apps. This blog highlights some of the new key features. For a complete list, view the 2206 release notes.

Host: Moin Kahn
Co-Host: Rizwan Shaikh

Since the launch of our Horizon Subscription Upgrade Program in 2019, many VMware Horizon customers have upgraded to our Horizon Universal Subscription offering, taking advantage of several benefits including:

• Flexible multi-cloud deployment options – deploy and host Horizon anywhere and in multiple clouds at the same time, including on-premises, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and IBM Cloud. IT can continue to deploy virtual desktops and apps on-premises, leverage the speed and scalability of hyperscaler capacity, or use a combination of both to help their employees quickly get secure access to corporate resources. 
• Simplified cross-pod and cross-cloud management – use the cloud-hosted, VMware-managed Horizon Control Plane, which includes multi-cloud SaaS services that allow IT to monitor and manage images, desktops, and apps across Horizon deployments, including both on-premises and in the cloud. For example, IT can use the Universal Broker service to enable a global entitlement layer across a multi-pod or multi-cloud deployment, providing a great user experience to access any desktop from anywhere with a single URL, and reducing TCO by removing the need for a global server load balancer. 
• Hybrid and multi-cloud use cases – add new cloud capacity to existing on-premises deployments to enable High Availability, Disaster Recovery, and burst capacity for temporary and seasonal workers without the CapEx requirements for additional data center hardware. Additionally, customers can move desktop and app workloads strategically to the cloud to be closer to cloud-hosted applications to reduce latency and optimize performance and user experience.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Rizwan Shaikh

At VMworld, we announced the next-generation hybrid DaaS architecture of VMware Horizon, which will eventually become the single platform on which all Horizon environments are built, regardless of whether they run natively in the cloud or on VMware SDDC. This next-gen platform leverages a new concept called the Horizon Edge that moves most of the Horizon infrastructure components that traditionally run in a customer environment to the Horizon Control Plane, resulting in significantly lower infrastructure costs for customers and increasing our ability to deliver a comprehensive cloud service.

Today we’re excited to say that we’ve reached the next milestone in our process of delivering the lowest-cost, most scalable version of Horizon that we’ve ever made: Limited Availability.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Guest: Gabe Knuth

Since it’s early January, it’s the season where everyone makes predictions about the upcoming year. At VMware EUC, we decided to share some of our predictions too, but not in a “pie in the sky” non-relevant way. More like, “If you’re an EUC professional, here are 11 trends we think are going to increase in relevance in 2022, and things you should think about if you want to stay on top of your EUC game.” For example, AR/VR is not on our list, because while we’re doing some cool things like XR Hub, AR/VR still won’t be a significant part of the job of most EUC pros out there in 2022.

By the way, I’m Brian Madden, the guy actually typing this blog post into my laptop, but these 11 predictions are based on collaborative thoughts from Shawn Bass (VMware’s EUC CTO) and the entire Office of the CTO team.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Moin Kahn

With the recent release of Workspace ONE version 2111, VMware brings you Freestyle Orchestrator, our game-changing workflow automation engine set to revolutionize the way you manage your organization’s Windows and macOS endpoints. The result of countless man hours of legendary VMware innovation, Freestyle Orchestrator enables admins to automate specific tasks by applying designated resources to devices based on granular criteria.

That’s an accurate description of the technology, and it’s all well and good to say, but how exactly can a Mac administrator apply this revolutionary technology to make everyday life easier? How, in other words, does the rubber meet the road? We’ve created this blog to specifically call out a couple of ways – just starting examples – that admins can use Freestyle Orchestrator to better manage their Mac fleets. Again, this is simply a starting point to help you ideate scenarios within your own organization where this is a fit.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Erik Collett

Everyone reading this has probably heard that old rule of thumb that security and convenience are inversely proportional. In other words, increasing security comes with the cost of less convenience, while making things easier to use also means less security. This isn’t just in the context of computing, by the way. An unlocked door is easier to use (more convenient) than one that is locked (more secure). A door that you can unlock with a key is easier to use (but less secure) than a door that requires both a key and a keypad code, etc.

In the context of end-user computing, we all see this trade-off daily. Longer passwords are seen as more secure than shorter ones, but they’re also harder to remember and type. Six-digit phone PINs are more secure but less convenient than four-digit ones. Multifactor authentication leveraging both a password and one-time code is more secure than just a password but annoying every time we have to switch over to the authenticator app to get that code. Requiring a PIN to unlock the authenticator app is more secure than not, but with the expense of additional steps and user annoyance.

There’s never really been any kind of standard for how this should all work and what should be used where. Different companies, policies, regulations, governance, organizational cultures, and sales rep effectiveness drive most of it, and things are different everywhere. What’s been historically consistent is that more security has correlated to more hassle for the users.

Finding the balance between security and convenience has always been about tradeoffs. I’ve always thought of the “security versus convenience” model as a sliding scale, like the one below. You can draw a vertical line anywhere you want in the diagram below to get a certain level of security for a certain level of convenience, and increasing one decreases the other, and vice versa.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Erik Collett

Our Horizon SaaS services have been a huge hit with customers, and it’s not just because of the overall increase in demand for remote work. Day after day, organizations are realizing how the unique benefits of VMware Horizon can help them lower costs, increase scale and visibility, reduce management headaches and provide a seamless hybrid experience for both users and IT admins. 

As we begin VMworld 2021, we’re extremely excited to unveil for the first time our plans for the next-generation of virtual desktop and app delivery based on a hybrid DaaS architecture – the future of VMware Horizon!  

Today, VMware has two platforms for delivering virtual desktops and apps: one for environments running on vSphere (Horizon 8), and one for environments running natively on Microsoft Azure (Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure). While each of these platforms leverages the same Horizon Control Plane and can take advantage of the same valuable features like App Volumes, Image Management, Cloud Monitoring Service and Universal Broker, we want to do even more to evolve our architecture.  

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Erik Collett
Guest: Gabe Knuth

Workspace ONE Intelligence delivers insights, analytics and automation for the Workspace ONE platform, and empowers our customers to improve employee experience, streamline IT operations and enhance security.

Today we are excited to announce that Workspace ONE Intelligence will soon support VMware Horizon, bringing the advanced Workspace ONE Intelligence capabilities to Horizon customers and delivering insights and analytics for both physical devices and virtual desktops through a single pane of glass.

By integrating Horizon data into Workspace ONE Intelligence, IT admins will be able to get visibility into mobile devices, physical and virtual desktops and applications in a single, centralized location. This end-to-end visibility will enable admins to streamline management and get a holistic view of user experience in their organization.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Erik Collett

When designing a hybrid and multi-cloud desktop virtualization platform like VMware Horizon, one of the main challenges is building a single platform that can be deployed in multiple locations without making it feel like you’re managing multiple different environments. After all, organizations don’t want to be in the business of managing multiple desktop virtualization silos. They want one desktop virtualization platform that can deliver desktops in multiple ways.

Threading that needle is something VMware has put a huge amount of effort into, and with the Horizon Control Plane Services like Cloud Monitoring, Image Management and Simplified Application Management, we’ve shown we’re up to the task. But to truly achieve that one-platform-for-all-uses vision, you must be able to simplify and unify assigning and accessing virtual desktops and applications. That is where VMware Horizon Universal Broker comes in, and it’s what today’s blog is about.

This week, we’re also announcing the expansion of several Horizon Control Plane services to additional cloud providers. I’m excited to note that Horizon Universal Broker is now available for VMware Horizon on Azure VMware Solution (AVS) environments. You can head to our overview blog and press release for more information.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Erik Collett

The last year has changed a lot about the end-user computing landscape. We transitioned from workplaces that were very well-known (mostly on-premises with a few established remote users) to a distributed workforce that inhabits a less well-defined workplace that could be, frankly, anywhere. Organizations that already made extensive use of a desktop virtualization solution and prioritized remote access were well-positioned to weather the storm, but others didn’t fare so well for one reason or another. Even today, some are struggling to keep their legacy environments running.

We routinely hear from customers that their existing environment, for whatever reason, isn’t able to keep up with demand. Sometimes it’s as simple as an aging infrastructure in need of replacement, but other times the situation is more complex. Many say their legacy platform hasn’t kept up with the times with modern features of desktop virtualization technology or that support is hard to come by. Others have to deal with security issues that are amplified by increased demand for remote work. And some are simply having to deal with increased costs without an increase in capabilities.

It’s with these situations in mind that I wanted to take some time to explain the unique capabilities of VMware Anywhere Workspace – and specifically VMware Horizon – that so many customers have come to depend on for a more robust desktop virtualization strategy.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Eric Collet
Co-Host: Gabe Knuth

By Wendy Leung

Virtual phone screening, virtual interviews, virtual offer? Check. Starting a brand-new job in the middle of COVID-19? Totally unchecked. Nervous? You bet.

I’ve started new jobs before, but they’ve all been in person. My hiring manager would be a familiar face on day one, walking me to get a badge, handing me a laptop, and introducing me to everyone in the office.

Joining a new company during COVID-19, I had no idea what to expect. Some of my teammates have also onboarded remotely, but this experience was especially important to me as I’m joining the VMware Workspace ONE employee experience team. I’m actually my own use case! Today, I’m going to share my onboarding experience with Workspace ONE.

Having been here at VMware a year and drinking from a firehose to learn about all of our products, one of the things that really impresses me is what has been happening with App Volumes. Having been at Unidesk, the app layering company acquired by Citrix, I was keen to learn what was going on here.

I hadn’t looked at App Volumes 4 in-depth and most of my knowledge was still based in the 2.x platform. I was surprised at how much the “layering” had advanced and was really not traditional “app layering” or “App Stacks” anymore. Of course, since the beginning of App Volumes, VMware’s approach has been to focus on the apps and their delivery. This differs from Citrix App Layering, where to deliver apps, you must change your image management model and move everything to their app layering product. This includes OS management, vendor agents, antivirus, and of course, apps. For anyone that has done this in larger environments, you know the pain it can cause with the slowdown of the integration, cross-team issues, and politics.

VMware’s focus on app delivery has allowed us to continue to keep OS or image management separate from the apps (resulting in easier implementation) and allowed the applications to be added to desktops or servers as needed (giving greater flexibility in app deployment). In addition, our App Volumes teams are moving to a more holistic app management approach and beginning to individually address the applications in virtual disks. This does away with the “app stacking” requirements of the past while speeding up app delivery and execution.

With that in mind, today I’d like to take a look at three specific features that you need to look at when you evaluate app management tools in your virtual desktop environment. These three features, while simple and easy to understand, really show the emphasis that VMware is placing on improving your app management capabilities as well as integrating them with your existing tools.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Gabe Knuth
Guest: Ron Oglesby

As the future of work is evolving and hybrid models seem to be the choice of many organizations, IT teams must quickly adjust. Providing employee choice, flexibility and productivity while maintaining high standards of security is challenging. In addition, IT teams are constantly looking for ways to optimize their operations and often are required to align to business objectives. As our customers are strategizing on the future of work for their organizations, they are looking to us for solutions.

To that end, today we announced VMware Anywhere Workspace. As part of this solution, we want to help IT teams deal with the complexity of their environments by making the workspace more simple, responsive and efficient. In this blog, we’ll share some of the newest innovations in Workspace ONE that contribute to automating the workspace.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Harvey Green
Co-Host: Erik Collett

This week we revisit last week's podcast and add a little more context to what customers should expect under the new subscription models. 

VMware’s Horizon Universal Subscription provides a great way for Horizon VDI and published apps customers to gain access to the innovative cloud management services hosted in the Horizon Control Plane. These services are designed to help customers simplify management and reduce operational costs for on-premises Horizon deployments. The Horizon Universal Subscription also entitles on-premises customers to new cloud-enhanced use cases like disaster recovery and cloud bursting, while providing new hybrid and multi-cloud deployment options for desktops and apps across public and private clouds. In sum, customers can gain management efficiencies from the cloud for their on-premises environment and expand use cases and capacity to the cloud when they’re ready.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Eric Collett

VMware’s Horizon Universal Subscription provides a great way for Horizon VDI and published apps customers to gain access to the innovative cloud management services hosted in the Horizon Control Plane. These services are designed to help customers simplify management and reduce operational costs for on-premises Horizon deployments. The Horizon Universal Subscription also entitles on-premises customers to new cloud-enhanced use cases like disaster recovery and cloud bursting, while providing new hybrid and multi-cloud deployment options for desktops and apps across public and private clouds. In sum, customers can gain management efficiencies from the cloud for their on-premises environment and expand use cases and capacity to the cloud when they’re ready.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Gabe Knuth
Guest: Sachin Sharma

Today, we are excited to announce the availability of two important new features in VMware Workspace ONE Access: Support for FIDO2 passwordless authentication and Login Risk Score.

We first announced these features just a few short months ago at VMworld 2020, and they join our recently released support for multifactor authentication integrated directly into Intelligent Hub.

Together, all of these features are part of our comprehensive set of conditional access capabilities, which also includes device compliance.

We all know just how important access and authentication are. According to the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, stolen or brute forced credentials are involved in more than 80% of breaches classified as hacking. This threat has become much more common and dangerous with the rise of work from home and the increased time that employees are spending at their computers. Clearly, the time is right to implement stronger authentication and access control features.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Erik Collet
Guest: Max Escaler

When we look back at 2020, it’s easy to recognize the big milestones in such an unusual year: the tremendous usage of Horizon in the cloud, the first ever completely virtual VMworld and most importantly, all of the hard work people put in transitioning to remote work to keep people safe! With so many noteworthy trends and events, we figured it would be a good idea to look at some of the other important announcements that are worth revisiting.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Eric Collett
Co-Host: Gabe Knuth
Co-Host: Riza Nejatie

This session discusses the following topic, blog and/or support article: 5 Reasons to Move Beyond Point Solutions to VMware Workspace ONE

"Are you worried about the long-term viability of MobileIron’s offerings for your mobile device program? Will Ivanti try to push you into buying other point products you likely don’t use today? What would that migration look like? How will the acquisition affect your ability to get technical support and bug fixes? Does Ivanti have the resources to keep up with the rest of this dynamic market?"

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-Host: Scott March