by Geoffrey Murase, Solutions Marketing, End-User Computing
As more and more corporate applications are delivered from the cloud, businesses are presented with multiple choices in how to access them. No longer are businesses required to use full blown desktops or laptops to get their work done. For many, all they need is a way to access the web.
With Google Chromebooks, businesses of all sizes can take advantage of the low price, built-in security, fast boot times, and worry-free upgrades that Chromebooks offer. Google Chromebooks have already become wildly popular in the Education market, accounting for 1 in 4 devices shipped to U.S. K-12 schools according to preliminary data from Futuresource Consulting for the final quarter of 2013.
But many businesses continue to use legacy Windows applications such as Microsoft Office and are thus limited in their adoption of Google Chromebooks. If only there was a way to take advantage of the benefits of Chromebooks and still run legacy Windows applications.
Announced last week, Google has partnered with VMware to solve this challenge by leveraging VMware Horizon View desktop virtualization technology to deliver these Windows applications to users of Chromebooks. With VMware Horizon View, Windows desktops can be delivered through a Chrome browser using the VMware BLAST protocol. No client installation is required. Users just enter the URL of their local or hosted VMware Horizon View server and can get access to a full Windows desktop with any Windows applications installed on it.
So what if you want to copy text from your Windows program in a virtual desktop to an application in your Chrome browser? No problem. With VMware Horizon View 5.3, administrators can enable users to copy and paste between the two seamlessly. Conversely, if there’s a security policy that requires strict separation between the Windows environment and the browser environment, this feature can be disabled.
How about file management? What about printing documents? Do you have to keep two sets of files? Do you have to manage two printers for the different environments? Of course not. Users can access the same files from either their Chrome browser or a Horizon View desktop by using Google Drive. In addition, the Horizon View virtual desktop can be configured with Google Cloud Print to securely print documents to the same printer that’s being used by your Chromebook.
So to sum it all up – with a low price, built-in security, fast boot times, worry-free upgrades, access to both online AND Windows applications, and a seamless end-user experience, this new partnership between VMware and Google enables schools and businesses who had previously not considered Chromebooks for their users due to its lack of Windows application support to have the best of both worlds.
To learn more, we invite you to attend a webinar:
VMware & Google Modernize Corporate Desktops for the Mobile Cloud Era
Thursday March 13th, 2pm EST
Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/712266934
What do you think about Chromebooks in schools? In the enterprise? We’d love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter.
