By Mike Coleman, End-User Computing
Last week we released the VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack, which included a couple of great new features: Unity Touch and HTML Access. Pat Lee just posted a blog on Unity Touch, and I’m going to give you some more information on HTML Access.
What is HTML Access?
VMware had previously talked about a project we referred to as AppBlast. For those unfamiliar, AppBlast was an advanced development effort that focused on using HTML5 to remote applications from a Virtual Machine. As we developed the code we realized we needed to break it into different components. HTML Access is the first instantiation of that endeavor.
(Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the need for application remoting – I promise.)
HTML Access uses the HTML-based Blast protocol to allow access to VMware Horizon View desktops from almost any HTML5 compatible device. This is particularly useful in scenarios where an end user might not (or cannot) install a native Horizon View client – opening up all kids of use cases from disaster recovery to roaming users to access from unmanaged devices.
Once an admin configures HTML Access, users simply point their browser to VMware Horizon View Manager, authenticate, and chose the desktop they want to use.
Additionally, HTML Access can be integrated with VMware Horizon Workspace to provide further value by giving users a single access point for all their desktops and applications. In this use case, users log into their Horizon Workspace and can choose to use either the native Horizon View client or HTML Access to log into their desktops. This optional integration provides the most choice and flexibility compared to competitive solutions.
What do I need to install on my users’ devices?
Nothing. That’s the beauty of HTML Access – the end user doesn’t need to install anything at all.
What do I need to install on the back end?
On the Horizon View Manager server administrators install the HTML Access web portal components, and on the virtual desktops they install the Remote Experience agent (typically this is installed this as part of their base image).
How should I use HTML Access?
As mentioned before, we designed HTML Access to provide a solution to the issue of needing to quickly access a Horizon View desktop on a non-owned device or device where the user can’t (or doesn’t want to) install a native View client.
The thing to keep in mind is that the richest user experience is going to come from one of our native PCoIP clients. HTML Access is really for those times where you need a quick, basic solution to temporarily access a Horizon View desktop.
Where can I get more info?
You can download the Horizon View feature pack here. Click here for the documentation.
Continue the conversation:
Twitter: @vmwareview, @vmwaremirage, @vmwareworkspace
Facebook: Facebook.com/vmwareview, Facebook.com/vmwaremirage, facebook.com/vmwareworkspace
