By Harry Labana, vice president of products, End-User Computing, VMware
This past February, VMware announced the acquisition of Immidio and introduced a new approach to application delivery and user management called VMware Workspace™ Environment Management (WEM). With Workspace Environment Management, IT organizations have the ability to comprehensively isolate and deliver applications, manage users and monitor performance from the data center through to devices.
Today, just two months later—we’re excited to announce the general availability of VMware User Environment Manager that leverages the comprehensive and simple to use Immidio platform. VMware User Environment Manager is available as a standalone solution, as part of the VMware Horizon Application Management Bundle (see below) and is also included in VMware Horizon 6 Enterprise.
VMware User Environment Manager
A critical component of WEM, VMware User Environment Manager™ (UEM) offers personalization and dynamic policy configuration across any virtual, physical and cloud-based environment. It simplifies end-user profile management by providing organizations with a single, scalable solution that leverages existing infrastructure. With this solution, customers can enjoy quick access to their Windows workspace and applications, along with a personalized and consistent experience across devices and locations.
I think many people are going to be surprised at just how powerful and scalable this technology is when they look at it first-hand. We’ve received lots of great feedback from our early trials so far with customers that are looking to scale to well beyond 100K seats.
Importantly, Workspace Environment Management is something that all customers can benefit from—including customers running Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop.
So VMware is making VMware User Environment Manager and all of its Workspace Environment Management capabilities available to Citrix customers in one easy to use and consume VMware Horizon Application Management bundle.
Simplifying Application Management for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Environments
With this offering, Citrix organizations can transform application and end-user management from a slow, cumbersome process into a highly scalable, nimble delivery mechanism that provides end-users with access to the right applications every time they log in. Customers can leverage the solutions in this bundle to improve their return on investment and reduce infrastructure and end-user management costs. At the same time, end-users can enjoy a more personalized user experience with the ability to consistently access applications across devices and locations.
Available to customers and partners today, the VMware Horizon Application Management Bundle offers a comprehensive set of VMware technologies for WEM that includes:
- New VMware User Environment Manager (UEM) – Offers personalization and dynamic policy configuration across any virtual, physical and cloud-based environment. VMware User Environment Manager can simplify end-user profile management by providing organizations with a single, scalable solution that leverages existing infrastructure. The net effect – organizations leveraging VMware UEM can increase workplace productivity while driving down the cost of acquisition and day-to-day desktop support and operations. For more information, click here.
- New VMware vRealize™ for Published Applications – VMware vRealize Operations™ for Published Applications is a brand new solution from VMware that is designed to help IT easily troubleshoot Citrix environments to reduce downtime. Key performance indicators including application, session, user and infrastructure metrics are captured by this technology to help with remediation and to lower support costs. These capabilities are also available in the VMware vRealize Operations instance that comes with VMware Horizon® 6 Enterprise and in the standalone VMware vRealize Operations for Desktops and Applications solution. For more information, click here.
- Updated VMware App Volumes™ – VMware App Volumes provides real-time application delivery to end-users and desktops. IT can use App Volumes to instantly deliver applications and data to users without compromising user experience. Infrastructure and management costs are reduced by utilizing managed volumes and unlike traditional application management solutions, App Volumes allows IT to deliver a desktop with no trade-off between user experience and costs. For more information, click here.
- VMware ThinApp® – Designed to eliminate application conflicts and streamline management, VMware ThinApp simplifies application virtualization and reduces the cost and complexity of application delivery. ThinApp adds application compatibility to the virtual workspace and helps to reduce the management burden of provisioning, patching and updating applications and images. For more information, click here.
- VMware Workspace Portal – VMware Workspace Portal simplifies the end-user experience and reduces IT costs by offering applications in a single enterprise-class aggregated workspace, securely delivered on any device. End-users gain freedom of mobility through anytime, anywhere access. For the administrator, the results are simpler, centralized, policy-based management. For more information, click here.
What’s more, customers can take advantage of these technologies for 45% less than it would cost them if they bought each of these items separately.
New Features in VMware Horizon 6
As if all of that was not enough, VMware is also introducing the general availability of several new application publishing capabilities announced last month and the general availability of the new Systrack Desktop Assessment tool that offers customers a free cloud-based assessment service and customized reports in partnership with Lakeside Software.
For customers considering the purchase of VMware Horizon 6 or VMware Horizon® Air™, Systrack Desktop Assessment provides quick and easy insight into end-user computing infrastructure, applications and desktops.
And as a follow-up to last month’s introduction of the VMware Horizon for Linux Early Access Program, which has drawn more than 400 customer and partner nominations, the solution will be generally available later this quarter so be sure to go to the VMware End-User Computing Desktop and Application Virtualization page to learn more and stay tuned for the impending GA!
To find out more about these new product introductions and enhancements, tune into our webcast where we will be demoing these technologies. You can also see these technologies live and in-person at the VMware booth (#302) at Citrix Synergy (May 12-14).
