By Cindy Heyer, Technical Writer, Technical Marketing, End-User Computing at VMware
We hear the requests for an easy way to identify which of the many application-delivery options supported by VMware Horizon 6 works best for a particular use case. It is a good problem to have. And now the Horizon 6 Decision Maker comes to the rescue.
You don’t need a decoder ring when you have the Horizon 6 Decision Maker. The Decision Maker helps you navigate the wide array of options that Horizon 6 supports to meet your application delivery and user requirements.
The Decision Maker starts with a series of questions to help identify the best application types and platforms for your use cases. Each question represents a simple use case. You can choose from the set of application-related questions on the left, or platform-related questions on the right. Click a question, and the Decision Maker presents the options that support that use case.
For example, what if you need to support physical desktops? In the Platform Questions on the right, click the Physical desktops? question. The Decision Maker takes you to the Mirage page to see the use cases that Mirage supports:
You can see that Mirage answers your original question: the support of physical desktops. This page shows that Mirage also supports offline access to apps, as well as ThinApp packages. This page shows the use cases that ThinApp supports, which include the ability to deliver multiple application versions side-by-side, and to isolate applications from other applications and from the operating system, as well as offline access.
For another example, do you need to support shared access to some or all of the applications in your environment? Click the Shared access to apps? question. The Decision Maker takes you to the Hosted Apps page, which shows the use cases supported by using hosted apps.
You can support shared access to apps, you can deliver apps that require device drivers which would not work with ThinApp packaging, and you can also present your users with multiple versions of the same application side-by-side.
The Hosted Apps page also tells you that hosted apps are supported by three Horizon 6 platforms: View, an integration of View and Workspace, or an integration of View and App Volumes. Each platform option answers additional questions and supports additional use cases. The View option, for example, supports both persistent and nonpersistent desktops, Windows and non-Windows applications, and more. If you opt for a View-Workspace integration, you get the benefits of both platforms, which include single sign-on, a catalog for users to self-select their apps, and more.
The Decision Maker is an easily consumable tool that escorts you through the myriad options that Horizon 6 offers to provide your end users with easily accessible applications. You simply examine the use case questions, and click one to select it. Your selection takes you automatically to a diagram showing the application types and platform solutions for your use case, as well as the additional use cases supported by that solution.
No matter what kind of environment you start with—View virtual desktops, ThinApp application virtualization, Workspace Portal, existing Citrix XenApp, a non-VMware VDI environment, or some combination of the above—you can find pertinent use cases for application delivery that help you identify potential benefits and return on investment. For more information, see Application Delivery with Horizon 6 and VMware Horizon 6 Documentation.
After you use the Horizon 6 Decision Maker, you can help improve it by telling us how it works for you. We would especially like to know:
- Is the Decision Maker helpful?
- Is the Decision Maker easy to use?
- Is it clear from the start how to use the Decision Maker?
- How could we improve the Decision Maker?
- What additional use cases would you like to see?
Your feedback is valuable to us. To comment, contact the VMware End-User-Computing Technical Marketing and Enablement team at [email protected].
