VMware App Volumes

RES & VMware App Volumes in Action: Identity-Driven & Automated AppStacks

By Lacy Gruen, Director of Product Marketing, RES

res_partner_blog_graphic_app_volumesManaging application access and enforcing policies around who should get what set of apps is no easy feat for IT pros. It’s only getting harder to strike the balance between worker productivity by giving the workforce want they want and adhering to business-driven controls to ensure security and license compliance.

Providing workers with too much access—or access to things they don’t require to do their job—leaves the door open for security risks and overspending on licenses and becomes a burden for IT over time. On the flipside, overly limiting access to apps can quickly take a hit on worker productivity, not to mention leave workers frustrated and blaming IT for all of their issues.

VMware App Volumes offers enterprises a new approach to organizing and deploying sets of apps for specific groups of people so workers get the right mix of apps they need to do their job in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or published application environments. By managing AppStacks instead of individual apps, IT can save time and resources and enforce business rules around who should get which apps, regardless if it’s in a Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop, VMware Horizon or Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) environment.

But, wouldn’t it be great if AppStacks could automatically be assigned and provisioned to workers based on their identity and need at that moment? RES has been helping enterprises take their use of App Volumes a step further with the integration we announced earlier this year.

Building on the App Volumes real-time application and user management platform, the RES integration allows enterprises to benefit from the ability to automatically map AppStacks to groups or individuals based on their identity (as determined by Active Directory, HR systems or other identity sources used by an organization). Once a user is qualified for the AppStack(s), they are provisioned automatically, either through self-service (by IT, the user or manager) or automatically based on the attributes of their identity.

Because the App Stacks are tied to identity, system triggers like role changes will trigger RES to automatically return and issue new AppStacks as appropriate.  IT can benefit from the improved manageability of AppStacks while automating even further.

Check out this video highlighting the RES and VMware App Volumes integration in action:

 

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