Name: Horizon 8
Brand: Omnissa
Rating: 4.1 (116 reviews)

it_user320616

Process Control Network Manager at Georgia-Pacific LLC

Oct 9, 2015

We now have full visibility across all our sites from one pane of glass, although I'd like I/O acceleration within VMware instead of having to use a third party.

Pros and Cons

"With virtual environments, we are highly scalable; before, when we had a physical environment adding a server was a whole process, now we have a base VM and we just add it, provisioning servers is nothing and now it takes two to three hours instead of two to three weeks."

"One thing is I'd like to be able to see I/O acceleration within VMware instead of having to use a third party, like VMTurbo."

What is most valuable?

Being able to centrally manage our environments from one pane of glass.

How has it helped my organization?

Before we virtualized it was stand alone systems, now I can see all ten sites we manage, and manage the systems. If we need to make changes, we can do it with a snapshot. It's much easier than before, plus we now have visibility into everything going on.

What needs improvement?

One thing is I'd like to be able to see I/O acceleration within VMware instead of having to use a third party, like VMTurbo.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven’t had any issues – its worked really well.

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Horizon 8

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With virtual environments, we are highly scalable. Before, when we had a physical environment adding a server was a whole process, now we have a base VM, and we just add it, provisioning servers is nothing. Now it takes two to three hours, instead of two to three weeks.

How are customer service and support?

I haven’t had any issues. They're easy to get hold of, and they're able to help with all our issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

There was no other solution in place.

How was the initial setup?

It was fairly straightforward. It took getting used to the new technology but it wasn’t too difficult.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user320130

Tech Lab Engineer Analyst at AARP

Oct 9, 2015

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It allows us to do a lot from the back end where we don’t have to impact the users at all, including spinning up a VM for solutions any end-user needs.

Pros and Cons

"They share information, they communicate well, and they give you a comfort zone to make sure you’re ok with everything."

"The design was complex to understand."

What is most valuable?

The administrative console – it allows us to do a lot from the back-end where we don’t have to impact the users at all.

How has it helped my organization?

We can spin up a virtual machine real quick for any solutions that any end-user needs. That’s what I really like.

What needs improvement?

Well, one of the features we would like to have (even though it was released last year), was NSX. We’re providing a web portal services so that we can spin out any servers that they need, so those things would help. The NSX is something that we are looking at right now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It’s very stable. We have a very stable environment. We use a cloud provider to provision our desktop, just trying to get our servers to collaborate together takes a bit of a challenge. It’s an ongoing transition, so the knowledge transition takes a bit of time.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We’ve scaled up a lot. When we first started out, we’re fairly young using a virtual environment. We started with 130, and moved to over 500 now. It’s great and it’s not time consuming at all or difficult. It’s been rewarding to us.

The only downfall in our organization is the budget constraints, as we’re a nonprofit organization, so using a third party cloud provider is not free, so we have to let our user community know about the costs associated with using the environment. It’s a direct cost.

How are customer service and technical support?

They’re great. They use the case number customer support, and the technician will contact you and you tell them your issues. They give you a knowledge based article, and then if you can’t resolve the issue they will get back with you. They also do a WebEx session with you in figuring our problems. They’re able to resolve it right away. When I have to call them, they’re very good at what they do, and especially talking to somebody on the phone, they’re very knowledgeable in diagnosing issues. They share information, they communicate well, and they give you a comfort zone to make sure you’re ok with everything.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using an HP appliance, and we were trying to get away and use what VMware recommended. Our HP appliance was out of warranty and old, and we just needed o upgrade.

How was the initial setup?

The design was complex to understand. When we set it up on our environment, I went through the classes but doing it hands on was a little different. However, after that initial hurdle, it was very clear.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Dependability, stability, and ease of use are what we look for. We looked at Citrix and Microsoft, we went with VMware as we had been using VMWare for the last ten years in our tech lab, so it was easy to just have it across the board.

Definitely. Peer reviews are one of the first things I take a look at before creating my vendor list.

What other advice do I have?

We would have to be completely VMware, i.e every product we have from VMware to have it working perfectly. However, it is great for us right now though.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Buyer's Guide

Horizon 8

March 2026

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Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

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it_user271026

System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 10, 2015

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We've been able to remove 70% of the desktops from our classrooms and onto VDI, but the VM management console should be improved.

Pros and Cons

"We used to have desktops in our class rooms, and now 30% of our classrooms are on VDI, which is very easy to manage centrally and has reduced complaints about PCs in classrooms to less than 5%."

"The pools and virtual machine management console should be improved, as there is no way to group PCs in different pools, etc."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is virtual machine provisioning.

How has it helped my organization?

We used to have desktops in our class rooms, and now 30% of our classrooms are on VDI. It is very easy to manage centrally and complaints about PCs in classrooms are less than 5% now.

What needs improvement?

The pools and virtual machine management console should be improved, as there is no way to group PCs in different pools, etc.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for one year.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been a few problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

It's good.

Technical Support:

I had trouble with tech support one, as the person I was speaking to wasn't good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No previous solution was in place.

How was the initial setup?

It was a little complex when configuring Active Directory and other server roles.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented it myself.

What was our ROI?

It is very high, we are planning to introduce to all of our class rooms.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is high as VMware costs are always high.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No other options were evaluated.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good solution, it is stable.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user148047

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jul 1, 2015

It controls what application a user will see in his/her desktop, but it blocks AppStack applications.

Pros and Cons

"UEM is implemented to control what application a user will see in his or her desktop, and among other user profile controlling features this is the core business of UEM."

"P.s. without UEM, App volumes will show you the applications instantly, just when you add UEM you add management on a different level that for now hurts me."

I was talking to my colleague Sven Huisman this morning and the discussion got to App Volumes and VMware UEM. We both are running some PoC's right now and are experiencing some rather interesting facts about both products.

There is one feature that I experienced before that I thought should be shared with you out there. It's something they need to work on, it's fairly simple but if it's not implemented in UEM soon, the combination with App volumes is rather useless.

Let me explain myself...

UEM

UEM is implemented to control what application a user will see in his/her desktop, this among other user profile controlling features is the core business of UEM.

App Volumes

App volumes is implemented to stop the image sprawl so you don't need 10 VDI golden images to conquer your ever demanding organization, you built one and add AppStack per department.

The marriage

The marriage took place the minute VMware acquired VMware UEM, both products suddenly are bonded, in good and in bad times until death do us part.

So what happens when you have a desktop that is controlled by UEM and you add an AppStack? Let me walk you through this.

You logon to the desktop
UEM kicks in and setup your desktop following the configuration you created
App Volumes integration with the Connection server kicks in and connects to AppStack to your desktop
You see all you apps that are installed in the image and all other settings like printers and drive mappings.

You won't however see your AppStack applications, they are there but UEM is still blocking them. The logon task of VMware UEM is happening before the AppStack is connected, the integration with the connection broker works for App Volumes but not yet for VMware UEM.

Can be tune this?

I've been playing around with it and there are a few way to get your applications available. One option is to click refresh yourself but that is of course the last option you want to give your users.

There are a few trigger available that you could use;

There is however no trigger for added AppStack and and haven't yet found a way to create something to run after logon that would do a refresh.

I created a unlock task that runs on the unlock trigger and chose UEM Refresh there. That one works for instantly after I unlock my desktop the apps are there.

I also added a scheduled task to do a refresh but again it's not really the way to go.

I think that VMware needs to add a little bit of integration here and ask the guys from Immidio to add a trigger called AppStackArrival.

If you found a great manageable way to do this, please let me know.. looking forward to it.

p.s. without UEM, App volumes will show you the applications instantly, just when you add UEM you add management on a different level that for now hurts me.

Update 5th June 2015 11:02: My co-worker Sven Huisman was digging a bit deeper and focused on AppVolumes to solve this issue. He found another workaround to solve this, this is a more workable workaround. Read about it here.

It does not solve it, the integration has to come from UEM detecting the AppStack or AppVolumes notifying UEM that it is doing something. It's at least a workable solution for now, now it's up to VMware.

Originally published on blog.webernetz.net.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user209226

System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees

Mar 24, 2015

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It provides employees using many devices with portability but not for Linux desktops which should be included.

Pros and Cons

"In my opinion, this product should be the first environment that an enterprise company must consider."

"Deployment is not very easy, because there are many implications with the underlying infrastructure (which must be used only as a VDI infrastructure) and Active Directory GPO, which cannot be directly handled by View Administrator."

What is most valuable?

Features like LinkedClone, Desktop Pool with many delivery options and one single pane of glass to rule all desktop environments can simplify VDI management and reduce infrastructure costs.

How has it helped my organization?

In my low use-case, Horizon VDI is showing the agility to provide employees using many devices such as a tablet, PC and Mac, with portability but still stay within an active directory environment, with data and software which are in a "usable secure place".

What needs improvement?

I think that providing the solution for Linux desktops could be a real improvement as this would deliver desktops for operations and administrative operators without huge licensing costs (Desktops that have LibreOffice, Firefox and Linux client for client-server application). Another enhancement for this product could be a more simplified active directory GPO management through the Horizon Administrator console.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for one year, but only for demo purposes. We use this solution to try to demonstrate its real value.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

During the deployment take care with deploying the primary domain controller and the underlying vSphere environment.The VMs must be correctly resolved, NTP must be correctly reached and synchronized to, and PDC must be correctly configured. No issues will be encountered if you watch out for these simple constraints.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is mature, and stability is never compromised. In some cases, stability is gained by the underlying infrastructure stability. For this reason, pay attention to infrastructure metrics like storage IOPS and CPU utilization. In my case, the underlying infrastructure is covering up many possible issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I haven't scaled out my infrastructure, because my environment didn't reach the limit.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I haven't used it in this environment.

Technical Support:

I haven't used it in this environment.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes, I used Microsoft Terminal server (from Windows Server 2003 and 2008). I suggest deploying this solution to a few remote desktops, but still keep a VDI solution because it is lacking in many features like management, mobility and multimedia experience. For this reason, I switched to Horizon.

How was the initial setup?

Deployment is not very easy, because there are many implications with the underlying infrastructure (which must be used only as a VDI infrastructure) and Active Directory GPO, which cannot be directly handled by View Administrator.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed this solution in house and alone.

What was our ROI?

Choosing VDI to save hardware costs is not the goal of Horizon, because the infrastructure and licensing break-even point can only be reached after the 1000^th VDI. ROI must be measured in controlling the manpower costs. For this reason, often it is difficult to show the real advantage of the Horizon solution. In my case, because I'm using it for demo purposes I can't give more details about this.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing costs are important and physical infrastructure could not be shared between classic server virtual datacenter and a Horizon environment. In my case the use of NFR costs (only for demo purpose) are near zero, (the infrastructure is made by using recycled hardware).

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we also looked at Windows Terminal Server.

What other advice do I have?

In my opinion, this product should be the first environment that an enterprise company must consider. This product is a potential first player providing a top enterprise solution to deliver VDI in large and very large environments. For this reason, my rating of is 10/10 when considering a solution for enterprise environment and 8/10 in a mid-size deployment.

Pay attention to how many virtual desktops you should deliver and what is the real desktop utilization.A few desktops and too much customizations could cause an unjustified costs for three years.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. My company is a VMware solution provider partner (sell a private cloud solution) and VMware service provider partner.

it_user209226System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees

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Aug 28, 2015

Just for update www.vmware.com/support/horizon-view/doc/horizon-611-view-release-notes.html Horizon 6 now supports Linux Desktop!
Enjoy

it_user6561

Virtualization Counsultant at a tech company with 51-200 employees

May 22, 2013

Powerful way to customize our app and desktop for users.

It is best way to provide our user with vmware horizon service because it minimum workload and give us powerful way to customize our app and desktop for users with minimum time to repair or prepare them.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user6405

Engineer at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 6, 2013

VMware Horizon View Feature Pack 1 Test Drive

VMware released the Feature Pack 1 for VMware Horizon View 5.2 a week or so after the standard release. The feature pack comes with the HTML5 Access (Blast Protocol) and Unity Touch.

The new HTML5 client for VMware Horizon View 5.2 is something I was looking forward to trying out. Is it a pain to use a full client' No, but having the flexibility to roam around to different devices and not need to install an application is a nice mobility feature.

Protocol Wars

The HTML5 client doesn’t use PCoIP, and instead uses VMware’s own Blast protocol. Using a different procol piques my interest because VMware does not own PCoIP, which is a Teradici product. Could VMware buy Teradici' They certainly could, but they haven’t in the past so it seems unlikely they ever will. The talking point response here seems to be that Teradici is a ‘hardware’ company and does not fit VMware’s portfolio which focuses on software. Maybe the goal is to keep using two protocols. Or maybe the long-term goal is to develop the Blast protocol to a point where PCoIP isn’t needed. That is 100% speculation on my part, obviously, and that would be far down the road.

The agent for the Blast Protocol is an additional application install from the feature pack, and must be installed into the virtual desktop image on top of the View Agent. The software must also be installed to the connection server, and the pool(s) must be edited to enable the ‘HTML Access’ checkbox, etc. The whole process is simple, and doesn’t require a reboot.

Gunnar Berger has created a video comparing the protocols on YouTube: VMware Horizon View – Blast protocol vs PCoIP. One thing that appears different in the release than in his video of the beta is that the shadowing “functionality” is actually removed. The behavior mimics PCoIP now in that if another client connects then it disconnects the original connection.

Blast Positives

Protocol wars aside, I do like the Blast implementation. The video performance is very good, although not as good as PCoIP; the build-to-lossless functionality is relatively noticeable, for example. Watching video shows the real performance differences. Normal usage is solid and responsive, and is fine for a task worker that doesn’t require multimedia.

From testing the client on different platforms and browsers, I noticed that the client detects whether the connection is coming from a mobile or regular desktop OS and adjusts accordingly. This is very handy, as using Safari on an iPad gives the touchpad overlay option in addition to the other options the tablet interface provides. The below images compare the experience from an iPad with Safari, and MacOS with Google Chrome:

Blast’s Room-for-Improvement

This is the first release, so there are going to be rough edges that need some polish. Below are some of the issues in the current release (Feature Pack 1 with Horizon View 5.2):

No Multimedia or Flash Redirection
No ThinPrint Support
No USB Support
No Audio Support
No WebCam Support
Unsupported on Android

I tried using HTML5 client from my Droid Bionic running Android ICS, even though the documentation does not list Android in the supported platforms. The web page notifies the user of such:

Proceeding with the Android native browser fails outright, but the client does work in a degraded state with Chrome for Android. The only bug I noticed with Chrome for Android was that the client panel shows up in the middle of the screen, which results in a couple pixel tall line through the desktop when the panel is shrunk.

Unity Touch

Unity Touch is a nice feature addition for tablet users, although using Windows 7 on a tablet is not exactly a pleasurable experience. Unity Touch does make it a bit more enjoyable, though. A panel is added to the left side of the interface that gives easy access to programs, files, and running applications:

Browsing Windows Explorer and the Start Menu aren’t really built for tablets, so moving these to a panel that is made for the tablet experience is perfect. This is a great start to making a full Windows OS (Win8 excluded) more accessible for a tablet.

Thoughts

The features added by the Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 1 are great additions to the product, and really add functionality that competing products do not have. The Blast protocol is still a new feature and has limitations of such, but using a desktop inside a web browser is perfect when on a device without the ability to install applications, and it provides easy, quick access at that. Unity Touch is a great usability/experience additional for tablet users that make Windows on a tablet a little more more enjoyable.

It’s great to see VMware innovating in the VDI space.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user271026System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Sep 4, 2015

Waiting to see the improvement.

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it_user5676

Engineer with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 3, 2013

Allows for the creation of linked clone VM pools

View allows for the creation of linked clone VM pools and allows for easy administration of those pools. The automated tasks allow administrators to provision, refresh pools during off hours to keep the pools clean. View administrator is an easy tool to configure the servers in the environmnet. The ability to assign thin apps to a VM or pools of VMs in vmware view is an easy way to deploy applications to users.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Feb 18, 2014

From my point of view, Horizon View has three main pros: first pro is the new HTML5 client with Blast, which allows Horizon to deliver full desktops to users' browsers and it has a touchscreen interface. Second pro is that the platform uses space efficiently through the SE Sparse disk format and provides native platform graphics processing unit support for 3D graphics acceleration. Third pro is that it features AppShift technology, which introduces gestures and UI changes that make it easier to use Windows and Windows desktop applications on touch-based devices and support for the Nvidia Virtual Graphics Platform and Microsoft Lync communicator.