VMware announces new products and services for post-PC era

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SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Advancing its vision for the future of end-user computing in the post-PC era, today at VMworld, VMware, Inc., a global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced new solutions to help IT organizations empower a more agile, productive and connected enterprise.

"As our customers begin to embrace this shift to the post-PC era, we offer a simple way to deliver a better Windows-based desktop-as-a-service that empowers organizations to do more with what they already have," said Christopher Young, vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware.

"At the same time, we are investing in expertise and delivering the open products needed to accelerate the journey to a new way to work beyond the Windows desktop. This combination of empowered users and flexible IT as a service, enables a new working style that leads to a more connected enterprise."

The growing VMware End-User Computing portfolio seeks to free employees and enterprise IT from more than two decades of complex, device-centric computing, and delivers a more user-centric, IT as a service experience for the connected enterprise. In this new model, enterprises leverage hybrid cloud resources, while maintaining a managed, secure environment, and providing new ways for employees to collaborate across applications and data from any device, where and when a user needs it.

Enabling a New Way to Work

Today at VMworld 2011, VMware unveiled new products and cloud-based services that help organizations break free from device-centric legacy desktop models and accelerate their journey to a new way to work in the post-PC era:

- VMware View 5: Simplifying the Delivery of a Better Desktop - Available in the coming weeks, VMware View 5 will simplify IT manageability and control, while providing a high fidelity desktop virtualization experience. View 5 will deliver protocol enhancements that provide as much as 75 percent bandwidth improvement over LAN and WAN connections, advanced support of 3D graphics, scalable unified communications integration for voice and video media services with industry leaders, including Avaya and Mitel, and virtual desktop personalization with integrated persona management. Additional information on VMware View 5 can be found at www.vmware.com/files/pdf/press-kit/vmw-view-vmworld.pdf.

Faced with the challenge of providing a large user base of engineers and developers a better, more flexible desktop experience that can scale, ADP Dealer Services has implemented VMware View with plans to upgrade to VMware View 5 in the coming months. In addition to offering employees a better desktop experience, VMware View provides greater data security and simplified desktop management to drive down the costs of ADP's deployment.

"At ADP Dealer Services, we wanted to expand a virtual desktop infrastructure that was simple and scalable, and we wanted to work with an innovative company to provide that infrastructure," Bill Naughton, chief information officer, ADP Dealer Services. "With a workforce that spans multiple sites, VMware View is a great solution for supporting our differentiated user base via WAN and remote connectivity. With the release of View 5 and its PCoIP optimization reducing WAN bandwidth usage, the performance and the ease of management for our virtual desktops is only going to get better."

- VMware Horizon: Building the Platform for the Post-PC Era - New updates to VMware Horizon extend the benefits of its identity, policy and entitlement engine to virtualized Windows applications and connected mobile workspaces - providing an open, user-centric platform for delivery of different application types within a unified application catalog from a wide range of devices.

o VMware Horizon Application Manager - Leveraging the application virtualization capabilities of VMware ThinApp, VMware Horizon Application Manager will now offer a centralized console to manage access, deployment and updates to virtual Windows applications independent from device type and the underlying operating system. These new capabilities will be available in beta by the end of the year. Horizon's unified application catalog service promises to benefit both IT and end-users by collapsing separate identity silos into a single enterprise identity for secure employee access across private and public clouds.

 

o VMware Horizon Mobile^TM - Based on the VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) technology previewed earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, VMware Horizon Mobile will offer new features that enable an enterprise to establish and securely manage an employee's connected mobile workspace in isolation from their personal mobile environment. As a result, employees will gain the freedom to choose a single Android device for both personal and work use.

As part of this announcement, Verizon Wireless and VMware today unveiled a strategic partnership - enabling Verizon Wireless subscribers to gain the freedom to choose a single Android device for both personal and work use with VMware Horizon Mobile.

"The security and management challenges presented by employees bringing their own personal devices into the enterprise are top concerns for businesses," said Janet Schijns, Vice President, Business Solutions Group, Verizon Wireless. "Together, VMware and Verizon Wireless will deliver a compelling new experience to our enterprise subscribers that combine the most reliable 3G and 4G network along with the proven virtualization and cloud computing platform leadership of VMware."

Available from LG, Samsung and other smartphone/tablet manufacturers in the coming months, VMware Horizon^TM Mobile will provide a simple way for IT departments to securely provision, manage and de-provision a corporate mobile workspace to an employee's Android device over-the-air. Horizon Mobile will also include access to a catalog of corporate approved mobile applications and corporate data resources.

"VMware is charting a journey for customers towards a comprehensive, user-centric desktop and application management strategy," said Mark Bowker, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "VMware Horizon is a great example of how the company is enacting this vision - centralizing identity and access management today as the broker for Software-as-a-Service, legacy and mobile applications, and in the future for other application types and enterprise data."

Future releases of VMware Horizon will marry the management of existing Windows applications via application virtualization and publishing technologies from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, with the management of mobile and cloud-based applications. In addition, VMware Horizon will broker the secure delivery of cloud-based, personal and enterprise data resources. Additional information on VMware Horizon can be found at www.vmware.com/files/pdf/press-kit/vmw-horizon-vmworld.pdf.

Projects AppBlast^TM and Octopus: Delivering Universal Cloud Access

At VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas, VMware will preview two new end-user computing technologies - code named Projects AppBlast and Octopus - that advance the company's vision for enabling universal application and data delivery for the post-PC era.

Project AppBlast will provide the universal delivery of any application, including Windows-based applications, to any device supporting HTML5, enabling instant remote access to applications without the heavy footprint of the underlying operating system. Project Octopus will leverage data sync technology from VMware Zimbra^TM and Mozy^TM to enable enterprise-grade collaboration and information/data sharing. Additionally, Project Octopus will offer easy integration with VMware Horizon, VMware View and Project AppBlast to create a secure enterprise cloud service. These two projects promise to dramatically simplify the access and sharing of information across people and mobile devices, contributing to the Connected Enterprise.

Charting the End-User Journey: New Services

Helping customers chart their journey to a new model requires a plan. VMware Professional Services offers on-site, end-to-end consulting services to help customers who are interested in beginning the journey to a user-centric application and data delivery model and those who are well on the path. For more information on VMware Professional Services, visit http://www.vmware.com/services/by-product/desktop.html.

Pricing and Availability:

Available in the coming weeks, VMware View 5 is a family of products:

- VMware View 5, Enterprise Edition: includes VMware vSphere 5 for desktops, VMware vCenter Server 5 and VMware View Manager 5, a flexible desktop management server enabling IT administrators to quickly provision and tightly control user access.

- VMware View 5, Premier Edition: includes VMware vSphere 5 for desktops, VMware vCenter Server 5, VMware View Manager 5, View Client with Local Mode, VMware ThinApp 4.6, VMware View Composer and VMware vShield Endpoint to enable integration of offline capabilities, image management optimization, application virtualization and centralized anti-virus protection with virtual desktop delivery and management.

VMware View 5 Enterprise Edition is priced at $150 per concurrent connection and VMware View 5 Premier Edition is priced at $250 per concurrent connection. For more information, go to http://www.vmware.com/products/view/.

Available today in the United States and to select early access customers in other regions, VMware Horizon Application Manager^TM starts at $30.00 per user/per year for SaaS and Cloud application management. The management of ThinApp entitlements is expected later this year. For additional details on VMware Horizon Application Manager or to learn more about the VMware Horizon ISV program go to HorizonManager.com.

Solutions using VMware Horizon Mobile are expected to be available from LG, Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers in the coming months. . For more information, go to http://www.vmware.com/products/mobile/overview.html.