By Erik Frieberg, Vice President, Product Marketing, End-User Computing, VMware
I’m so honored to work at VMware because every day I get to innovate and solve for some of the most complex technology challenges for enterprise customers today. Each day, we are redefining what a data center is supposed to be with cutting edge technologies, advances in our product line, and solutions that help our customers improve their ROI.
As you have been reading in some of my past blog posts, a huge challenge in the data centers of today is the mobile workforce and how IT can work with end users to grant them access to their enterprise applications anytime, anywhere and on any device – be it Web, desktop or mobile – to allow for seamless collaboration and results. Research shows that 83 percent of Fortune 100 companies allow employees to telework.
Instantaneous, seamless, single platform access is what end users want, and today, we’re announcing enhancements to our VMware Horizon offering that takes full advantage of the cloud to deliver exactly that.
VMware Horizon 6 is an updated suite of end-user computing solutions that are designed to deliver desktop and application virtualization through a single platform from any cloud – be it public, private or hybrid – all under a unified, consistent workspace for the end user.
You can read our full press release here but let me highlight a few of the new capabilities in VMware Horizon 6:
- Published applications and virtual desktops delivered through a single platform offers application and desktop virtualization delivered from a single solution
- A unified workspace for simplified access provides one place for IT administrators to provision and end-users to access applications and desktops through single sign-on.
- Storage optimization using VMware Virtual SAN drives down capital costs to where virtual desktops are near parity with physical desktops and less expensive than physical laptops.
- Closed-loop management and automation offers a holistic view of your entire virtual infrastructure – from data center to device – while also providing cloud-like automation to simplify management.
- Central Image Management offers central image management of physical, virtual and employee-owned PCs from a single integrated solution that includes the latest updates from VMware Mirage.
- Hybrid cloud delivery gives customers the ability to deploy Horizon 6 in a hybrid cloud that balances between private and public cloud infrastructures to best satisfy their needs – all through a single integrated Horizon client that seamlessly connects to virtual applications and desktops.
So what does all this mean for our most important audience, our customers? Here is what Jon Howe, systems architect at Parata Systems told me:
“We like VMware’s pace of innovation in end-user computing and their vision of delivering desktops and applications on a single platform. Mobility and easy access is important to end users and IT administrators alike, and Horizon’s ability to provide both with a consistent user experience through a unified workspace was a very attractive proposition.”
With today’s announcement, VMware Horizon 6 becomes the industry’s most comprehensive desktop solution that offers new levels of innovation to help enterprises support IT and end-users in the Mobile Cloud Era.
That’s what I think – but what do you think? Share your feedback on VMware Horizon 6 on Twitter, Facebook or leave a comment here on this blog.
And if you have time, checkout this video message from our CEO, Pat Gelsinger, read what Sumit Dhawan, VP and GM of Desktop Products for EUC has to say about the launch, and get additional insight from Kit Colbert, CTO of EUC.
