In this series, Ron Oglesby will be breaking down the most important new features of our next-gen Horizon Cloud platform. These features will not only “fill the gaps” that customers have often seen between on-premises and cloud desktop app technologies, but will also give customers more flexibility and new options and tools for managing their virtual desktop and app environments.
In the first article in this series, we noted several new awesome features we would be reviewing over the coming weeks. Last week’s article looked at how our next generation of Horizon Cloud can reduce costs and massively increase scalability. Today I want to look at something a little bit “geekier.”
People who have been managing virtual desktop and RDSH environments for any amount of time will know that automating the environment and its management processes has always been a struggle due to the limited (or no) access to APIs from software vendors. In some cases, the APIs were just not available publicly. In others, they were barely documented or only covered certain parts or features in the product. Then, of course, you have the constant struggle where vendors let you use an API (even though it’s just “kinda supported”) — and suddenly an update or new version comes out and the APIs you are using are changed, or simply are not available anymore. This problem was exacerbated by vendors porting existing on-premises software components and services (with little or no API access) into the cloud.
In a mature cloud model, you want to be able to access all functions in the software via API. You don’t just want it, YOU NEED IT. It’s a must-have. The ability for customers and partners to simplify management processes, automate recurring workflows, and simply reduce the number of IT hours needed to manage these desktops and apps is a table-stakes requirement.
Horizon Cloud next-gen has been built from the ground up as a modern cloud-first, multi-cloud desktop as a service (DaaS). Giving you, the customer, access to an architecture that is designed to scale and be managed like DaaS is a core part of the service. Horizon Cloud next-gen also provides you with a global view of your desktops and applications spanning across on-premises and cloud environments. Regardless of the location of your desktop and application deployments, Horizon Cloud enables you to consistently manage and monitor them.
Horizon Cloud next-gen was built API first. All of the functionality you require while automating your environment is available. Documentation for this can be found at developer.vmware.com/APIs [insert link] along with the documentation for APIs across many of our existing products.
The coolest part of this (to my thinking, at least) is that we have designed a multi-cloud DaaS infrastructure model, that not only partners like MSPs can leverage, but that every customer can use and benefit from. Horizon Cloud is here to fix issues like being burned by lack of API access in the past or failing automation as half-baked APIs are renamed, changed, or simply disappeared.
While not every customer will leverage APIs and tons of automation, the reality is that at some point, regardless of size of the environment, something is going to need to be scripted and automated. This new model sets you up for success whether you are a 250-seat environment with one adminsitrator, or a 20-thousand-seat environment with specialized teams dealing with users, applications, Windows images, and more.
You can check out all the API documentation here.
If you haven’t heard about Horizon Cloud next-gen, it is important to understand that this is a new design and implementation specifically designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This is the future of Horizon, and it’s time to take a deeper look at it. Here are a couple of resources:
For the initial release blog, check out this article: “The Next Generation of VMware Horizon Cloud Is Here!”
Or, to see the requirements and deployment steps, check out our documentation in Tech Zone.
For a comprehensive overview of the most important features of Horizon Cloud next-gen, we encourage you to read all of the blogs in this series:
Looking at the Most Important Features of VMware Horizon Cloud
How Horizon Cloud Next-Gen Reduces Costs and Increases Scalability
Thin Edge! A Look at the Most Important Features of Horizon Cloud Next-Gen
