Desktop and application virtualization continues to be in high demand as organizations increasingly embrace hybrid and remote work for their employees. Leveraging the cloud is driving IT organizations to rethink desktop and app virtualization because using the cloud can help IT simplify desktop management, while enabling new use cases, such as high availability, disaster recovery, and cloud bursting.
To help customers on their digital transformation journey, VMware has partnered with Microsoft to deliver desktop deployment solutions like VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. Today at VMware Explore 2022 Europe, we’re excited to expand our collaboration with Microsoft to include Windows 365. (Register for the upcoming tech preview here.)
Windows 365 delivers Cloud PCs — a complete and secure Windows experience hosted in the Microsoft Cloud and accessible on any device. From temporary workers to software developers and remote employees, Windows 365 enables a variety of new scenarios for the new world of work.
“With Windows 365, employees can securely stream the full Windows experience from the Microsoft Cloud to any device,” says Scott Manchester, Partner Director of Product Management for Windows 365, Microsoft. “And we are pleased to be partnering with VMware to bring its high-end display protocol, robust remoting features, and hybrid deployment capabilities to our joint customers to extend their Cloud PC experience even further.”
How can VMware extend Windows 365 Cloud PCs? Let’s take a look.
Enhanced employee experience
The VMware Blast protocol can adapt to network settings such as low-bandwidth or high-latency to improve user experience through the Intelligent Hub. Remote experience features like printer and USB drive redirection further enhance the Cloud PC experience to match a user’s native PC experience. VMware-validated peripherals like scanners, phones, webcams, and more are supported on VMware services and can be used with Windows 365. Optimization packs for multimedia applications are also available to enhance the employee experience.
Hybrid cloud support
Customers will be able to deploy Windows 365 Cloud PCs alongside their Horizon 8 on premises, Horizon 8 on VMware Cloud, and Horizon Cloud on Azure desktop and published app deployments. Many Horizon customers have on-premises deployments and want to augment them with the simplicity of Windows 365 to take advantage of cloud capacity and scalability. The integration with Windows 365 will make it easy for users to access Cloud PCs and on-premises virtual desktops and apps.
Application management for all apps
Many Horizon customers are using VMware App Volumes to deliver and manage apps in their Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud deployments. App Volumes separates the apps from the OS and simply attaches apps during provisioning, giving users a persistent experience even in a non-persistent environment. Traditional app installation is not needed, simplifying desktop images and speeding provisioning to users. In addition, apps can be updated, rolled back, or removed easily without necessitating desktop image updates. By extending delivery and management of Windows applications to Windows 365, App Volumes can enable access to all apps, including legacy enterprise applications, in Cloud PCs. App Volumes supports many versions of Windows and many Windows application types, and it provides 99 percent app compatibility, so management of your entire app fleet is simplified.
Next steps
Sign up here to receive the latest information on the VMware collaboration with Microsoft on Windows 365.
For more VMware Explore Europe news, see our VMware Explore 2022 Europe Anywhere Workspace, Workspace ONE, and Horizon announcements overview and all the articles in our VMware Explore 2022 category.
