Two months ago at VMware Explore 2023 in Las Vegas, we unveiled our Apps Everywhere vision, anchored by VMware App Volumes and Apps on Demand. The goal with our Apps Everywhere vision is to unify and simplify app delivery and lifecycle management across any VDI, DaaS, or published app deployment, no matter whether on premises, cloud, or hybrid. App Volumes is the critical technology behind the Apps Everywhere vision, as it uniquely separates apps from the operating system image, enabling IT admins to quickly deliver apps to virtual desktops or published app hosts without updating and managing numerous images. Apps on Demand, powered by App Volumes, takes that real-time delivery concept a step further by enabling on-demand delivery of apps to virtual desktops or published app hosts, reducing management time and infrastructure requirements.
At VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas, we made several announcements about App Volumes support for VMware Horizon persistent virtual desktops and Apps on Demand support for Horizon Cloud next-gen, Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop RemoteApp streaming, and Amazon AppStream 2.0. I’m excited to share that the App Volumes persistent VDI beta is now available. Be sure to sign up! Apps on Demand support for Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop RemoteApp streaming and Amazon AppStream 2.0 is now generally available with the release of App Volumes 2309. You can try App Volumes with Apps on Demand for 60 days directly through Azure Marketplace and AWS Marketplace. In a matter of minutes, we’ll spin up a test environment through either marketplace so you can test and see the power of App Volumes and Apps on Demand in your own environment.
Keeping with the rolling thunder approach, at VMware Explore 2023 Barcelona, we’re announcing new digital employee experience (DEX) integrations with App Volumes to measure and optimize employee experience in Horizon environments. With Workspace ONE Experience Analytics for Horizon, customers can already measure and analyze user experiences across their Horizon VDI and apps environment. We’re now taking that to the next level by integrating App Volumes with our DEX solution and leveraging app usage insights from apps managed by App Volumes. These integrations will help IT deliver better user experiences by measuring app usage and taking user feedback into account before rolling out apps, while also helping rationalize app license usage. You can read more about this integration in this blog, “Digital Employee Experience Innovations Improve Enterprise Application Performance and Ease of Management.”
In addition to simplifying app delivery with App Volumes, IT teams can further optimize management of their Horizon environments using automation services with machine learning. IT admins have long been inundated with complexities involved in managing traditional on-premises VDI and app environments. Complexities include time-consuming processes and costs associated with infrastructure maintenance and updates in customer-managed environments. We’re happy to announce some key innovations we’re working on with new SaaS services in our Horizon Control Plane that are aimed at reducing Day 2 management costs in private, hybrid, public, and multi-cloud Horizon environments. These cloud services simplify management of Horizon environments, including for traditional on-premises environments, by using automation and machine learning to keep critical infrastructure components updated for better security and performance.
Active VDI Agent Technology
Horizon deployments are made up of various infrastructure components, such as the Horizon Connection Server, Unified Access Gateway, and Active Directory. One key component is the Horizon Agent, which can run in a virtual desktop, RDSH server for published apps, and even a physical machine. The agent allows the virtual desktop or RDSH server to be managed by the Horizon Connection Server so end users can connect to their virtual desktop or published app. We periodically release Horizon agent updates for security patches, feature updates, and bug fixes.
Many customers, especially those deploying Horizon at scale, run into challenges updating Horizon agents because of manual processes or the fact they’re using third-party tools to deploy updates that aren’t built for VDI. IT organizations can end up spending unnecessary amounts of time and resources on what should be a simple task of upgrading agents. In response to customer feedback, we are targeting to release a new feature in the next three months called Active VDI Agent Technology. With Active VDI Agent Technology, Horizon agents will be continuously updated based on scheduling. This capability will reduce the time IT admins spend updating Horizon infrastructure because they will no longer need to plan and deploy agent updates manually or through third-party tools. Instead, a new mechanism will allow the latest Horizon Agent installer to be downloaded onto the Horizon Connection Server based on learnings of what versions of Horizon agents are deployed in the customer’s Horizon environment. The Horizon Edge Gateway will feed the agent list to the Horizon Console, and admins can schedule to auto-update Horizon agents through the Horizon Console accordingly.
Active VDI Client Technology
Another critical component of Horizon infrastructure is the Horizon Client. The Horizon Client is installed on a client device, such as a laptop, thin or zero client, or any device that can make a connection to access the Horizon Agent running on a virtual desktop or RDSH server. The Horizon Client is supported on many operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, and Chrome. In addition, Horizon supports more than 170 peripherals to use with end-user devices that have the Horizon Client installed on them.
Customers may run into challenges updating Horizon clients, as they do with Horizon agents, because of time-consuming manual processes or using third-party deployment tools that don’t have a high success rate for updates. Furthermore, it can be difficult to update remote and off-domain Horizon clients. With Active VDI Client Technology, Horizon clients will stay updated without IT intervention. Using similar technology to auto-update Horizon clients as Horizon agents, IT will be able to schedule Horizon client updates directly within Horizon, no longer needing to use third-party tools. End users will have an “update now” option from their client that points to a link with the version of the Horizon Client that IT has set up. Even off-domain clients can be updated once they connect back to their Horizon deployment. This keeps Horizon environments more secure with the latest patch and security updates across all clients. We are targeting a tech preview of Active VDI Client Technology within the next nine months.
If you happen to be in Barcelona for VMware Explore 2023, be sure to join the many Horizon sessions to learn more about what’s new with Horizon, including the exciting app management and SaaS updates we covered in this blog. If you aren’t able to attend in person, you can view recorded sessions the following week or watch on-demand Explore sessions from Las Vegas, including these on App Volumes and Horizon SaaS.
For more VMware Explore news, see our VMware Explore Barcelona 2023 Anywhere Workspace, Workspace ONE, and Horizon announcement overview and all the articles in our VMware Explore Barcelona category.
