Our Horizon SaaS services have been a huge hit with customers, and it’s not just because of the overall increase in demand for remote work. Day after day, organizations are realizing how the unique benefits of VMware Horizon can help them lower costs, increase scale and visibility, reduce management headaches and provide a seamless hybrid experience for both users and IT admins.
As we begin VMworld 2021, we’re extremely excited to unveil for the first time our plans for the next-generation of virtual desktop and app delivery based on a hybrid DaaS architecture – the future of VMware Horizon!
Today, VMware has two platforms for delivering virtual desktops and apps: one for environments running on vSphere (Horizon 8), and one for environments running natively on Microsoft Azure (Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure). While each of these platforms leverages the same Horizon Control Plane and can take advantage of the same valuable features like App Volumes, Image Management, Cloud Monitoring Service and Universal Broker, we want to do even more to evolve our architecture.
A glimpse of what’s to come
The next-generation hybrid DaaS architecture of VMware Horizon will ultimately become a single platform for all Horizon environments, either on VMware SDDC or running natively in the cloud.
We’re going to accomplish this with a cloud-based delivery model and a lightweight “Horizon Edge” architecture that moves most of the VDI infrastructure components that traditionally run at the customer site to the Horizon Control Plane, which is managed by VMware and delivered as a service.
This approach can significantly lower costs by reducing the amount of infrastructure you need to maintain on-premises or in the cloud (or both!). Plus, by moving these components, like Pod Managers and databases, to our managed service, VMware will be able to provide additional capabilities like unprecedented scalability, advanced automation, improved visibility and troubleshooting and a seamless hybrid and multi-cloud experience. Let’s take a quick look at each of these things:
Lower Cost
Reducing the footprint of the VDI infrastructure on the customer side will result in lower operational costs, faster time to value and reduced maintenance/support from admins.
Unprecedented Scalability
Each Horizon Edge will support 20,000 VMs and even more sessions, which means you can scale faster than ever before. This further enhances cost-savings by supporting significantly more users with fewer infrastructure resources. A true win-win!
Advanced Automation
This next-gen Horizon architecture will be API-driven, which means everything Horizon can do will be accessible to third-party ISVs (think ticketing or monitoring), partners (for building managed service offerings or Day 2 management services) and customers (for integrating with your own automation workflows).
Improved Visibility and Troubleshooting
Using the same architecture across all platforms will improve visibility and troubleshooting capabilities across the board. Plus, we’re building in proactive alerting and advanced reporting, so you can discover and solve issues before they affect productivity.
Seamless Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Experience
Delivering resources from multiple providers means nothing if you have to manage it all separately. The next-gen Horizon architecture is being built with a common management and end-user experience that streamlines administration and increases end-user productivity.
What’s next?
We’re thrilled to be giving a sneak peek at the next-generation hybrid DaaS architecture of VMware Horizon right now. Because this is part of the Horizon family, it will feature the exact same remote experience features, clients and protocols we use today. What’s more, it will leverage the same Horizon subscription licenses we have today, which means you’ll have access to the next-gen Horizon platform as part of your existing subscription!
We’ve been working with early preview customers and partners and have heard great feedback related to the setup, scale, APIs and the architecture itself. If you’d like to be included in future communications about this next-generation architecture, fill out this form. We’ll keep you up to date on the latest news, including release information, betas and more.
Finally, there are sessions at VMworld where you can hear and see more about our plans for the future of VMware Horizon. Be sure to check out these sessions:
- EUS2467 – Solution Keynote Part 2: Technical Deep Dives on SASE and Horizon with Shawn Bass and Shikha Mittal
- EUS2640 – VMware Horizon Cloud Service: Update and a Sneak Peek at the Next Evolution of Horizon with Shikha Mittal and Jerrid Cunniff
We are very much looking forward to rolling out this amazing new platform, and we hope you are, too. Stay tuned!
Learn more about VMware Horizon announcements at VMworld
- Introducing VMware Workspace ONE Intelligence for VMware Horizon – Insights and Analytics for Your Horizon Environment
- New VMware Horizon Control Plane Services Further Extend Horizon Cloud Management Services
Read all our VMworld 2021 Anywhere Workspace and EUC announcements
- All our VMworld 2021 Anywhere Workspace, Workspace ONE, and Horizon Announcements
- VMworld 2021: Anywhere Workspace and End-User Computing Announcement and Keynote Recap
This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. Features are subject to change, and pricing and packaging for any new features, functionality, or technology discussed or presented, have not been determined.
