Horizon 8 Reviews

We put our client-server applications on Horizon.

The product helped us deploy complex applications.

The product’s scalability makes the deployment easy. It is important to us. The product handles security and compliance in the virtual infrastructure well.

The tool is not future-proof anymore.

I have been working with the product for about ten years.

I have a good impression of the tool’s stability.

I have a good impression of the tool’s scalability. We have five users.

The initial setup is complex. It is not easy to deploy. It could be much easier. The vendor must build a SaaS solution. The deployment takes too long.

The license could be cheaper.

Everyone is working with Teams after COVID-19. Relatively, Teams is a bit better than VMware Horizon View. I believe there is no future for VMware Horizon View.

I will not recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

The solution has enabled us to offer a secure desktop experience to our remote users. This ensures that our personally identifiable information and HIPAA data remain protected, eliminating the risk of being copied to a local, potentially mobile, device. Everything is contained within a centralized structure.

The tool provides a single pane of glass into all virtual infrastructure.

I would highlight the challenges related to integrating with Microsoft Azure services. Specifically, there are issues with MDM-managed devices and the necessity for MDM-managed compliant devices. In the non-persistent horizon model, there's a delay before each new desktop becomes compliant. Users can access these desktops before fully onboard into the MDM solution.

I have been using the product for 20 years. 

I rate VMware Horizon a ten out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten. 

The tool's deployment is complex. 

We had a team of two in-house resources and a couple of consultants. 

We have seen ROI with the tool's use. 

VMware Horizon's costs are high. 

I rate the product a nine out of ten. 

With a user base of around four thousand individuals, maintaining a vigilant stance on security is essential. Regular scrutiny of each endpoint is necessary to prevent any potential threats to our data center, such as infections, compromises, or hacks. The overarching goal is to maintain a tight grip on our data and keep it secure within our data center.

It's a solid product with favorable pricing, versatile use cases, and seamless implementation. It stands as a robust setup with considerable capabilities.

Addressing the technical aspect, one potential area for improvement lies in the lock-on times. With the introduction of instant clone technology, which is a cost-effective and resource-efficient solution, there has been a slight increase in log-on times, now reaching up to fifteen seconds. While this shift prioritizes security, it's worth considering if there are any adjustments that could further optimize performance without compromising security. A significant concern in Belgium, particularly with its stringent privacy regulations, is the adherence to the global standards for data protection. It would be beneficial if VMware invested in developing a robust reporting engine, providing insights into user activities, locations, and more. This becomes crucial, especially in the context of remote work, where customers often seek detailed reporting to understand how and where their teams are working.

I have been working with it for ten years.

It offers excellent stability capabilities.

Its scalability is designed to handle rapid adjustments, allowing for setups from zero to full capacity in less than three seconds. There are approximately four and a half thousand end users.

Before the introduction of VMware Horizon, Citrix was the primary solution. However, the transition to VMware Horizon was driven by its more advanced technology, straightforward licensing model, easy setup process, and comprehensive integration.

The key lies in effective preparation, particularly in deploying a Golden Image.

The successful deployment of Horizon relies on careful preparation, client collaboration, and aligning requirements. Despite the common oversight of reading the manual, it is crucial for a smooth process. Horizon's setup is generally user-friendly and backed by effective courses and online resources. A strong grasp of VMware is necessary, and addressing any weaknesses in the VMware data center is recommended before proceeding. Notably, while Horizon is not demanding on CPU and memory, the critical concern often lies in the storage layer. Therefore, meticulous planning, a robust VMware foundation, and focused attention on the storage layer are key for optimal performance. If you're starting from scratch to build a cluster for providing virtual desktops to around two hundred users, the project timeline is estimated to be approximately three to four weeks. In terms of resource requirements, this can be effectively managed by a team of two people over the specified duration.

The pricing is quite reasonable.

When contemplating a shift to the cloud, thorough cost calculations are essential due to the dynamic nature of cloud models. Horizon, focused on the modern workspace, provides cost control in on-premises environments. It's important to assess whether the claimed functionalities of the cloud align with your needs and if you can manage associated costs. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

The use cases mainly depend on our client's needs and requirements. One of the reasons is the high cost of hardware and associated maintenance and time it requires. When you have 300-600 systems, managing maintenance tickets and replacements becomes a significant challenge.

With a stable VDI in place, clients/end users experience fewer issues. A large number of users can easily have required changes in configurations across the entire stack on the back end without disruption to their work. VMware Horizon offers additional features in VDI that are not possible with localized systems or laptops. We are currently utilizing it partly with labs involving DNA analysis and with various forensic tools. However, its primary use case is for office environments.

It gives you better control and management options for adjusting performance requirements and securing the environment.

The use of VMware Workspace ONE with Horizon is quite impressive. VMware Horizon availability on both the cloud and on-prem and its flexible licensing options are worth noting. 

In addition, combined with ThinApp it offers efficiency and stability for the system, which is not always available in alternate solutions.

Speaking from my perspective, I think they could work on reducing the cost. There is room for improvement in the pricing model. 

I would like to see improvement in the license cost and the availability of perpetual licensing for Horizon. The solution offers a Term and subscription license.

We started setting up VMware VDI solutions many years ago, but the most recent deployment was completed in March 2023. The latest installation is of Horizon 8 and it's been a month since it was deployed.

It is stable. However, when shifting from a laptop or desktop environment, there are certain expectations that need to be set correctly. For example, users in some lab environments or universities have a habit of shutting down systems at day's end. It can be inconvenient and it either needs to be disabled or the VMs need to be restarted. These challenges can be addressed within a couple of weeks, and then everything becomes stable. So, stability improves over time with proper configuration and SOPs and as users grow accustomed to new environments.

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

It is highly scalable. The architecture allows POD architecture/design, accommodating anywhere from 300 to 20,000 end devices/sessions. The scalability depends on the specific needs and the capabilities of the network infrastructure.

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

From a technical standpoint, VMware Horizon is quite reliable and stable when compared to other products. It certainly has an edge in terms of stability.

The installation can be either simple or complex, depending on your desired configuration and the type of integrations you need with active directories and shares. There are plenty of options available. 

If you want a basic setup, it can be easily configured. However, you should have a good understanding of how the product needs to be set up. It's not overly simple, but it's not overly difficult either. The documentation is very comprehensive and helpful. As long as you have knowledge of the product and its components, such as the Connection Server and the licensing features, you can successfully configure it. Some training and support may be required.

If you have the necessary training, it will be easier to handle the deployment process.

The deployment time depends on factors such as the number of applications, templates, clients, and desired features. Generally, you can deploy it within two to three days and start working. We have two engineers for the deployment.

The same two engineers handle the maintenance as well.

VMware Horizon has subscription-based TERM licenses with many flexible options. I would really consider it to be of great value if VMware starts to offer perpetual licensing which used to be available.

We work with Several Virtualization Technologies and HCI systems including VMware vSphere, Oracle OVM, IBM PowerVM, Sangfor, Huawei FusionSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and H3C Workspace/VirtualDesktop. Nevertheless for VDI, our primary choice has been VMware Horizon to date.

If you have large contact center users or significant office users, and you are looking for a long-term ROI over a period of ten years or more, VMware VDI would be a suitable choice.

We are using VMware Horizon View for R&D. We use it like a machine that we need 24/7 at any cost. It should be accessible from anywhere, whether on an office premise or over the internet. But there are a few locations such as in the case of contractors, where we are not allowed to provide our machine. Here, we provide VDI infrastructure to them. They then connect the VDI and work. We integrate their system with Microsoft's Remote Desktop Service. Further, we tag the RDS with the solution. It acts as a connecting bridge between Microsoft hardware and the remote server.

VMware's most helpful feature is its ability to work like a centralized management system. When I say centralized management, it includes everything from vulnerability to application management, and much more. Regarding an R&D environment, we can quickly roll out VDI on their customized operating system. VMware is beneficial for customized platforms that offer auto-promotion and auto-deprovision. 

Initially, they had a VMware security server, which they replaced with a UAE server. The reason was to include more security features. They also included a load balancer feature on customers' demand. But, the paging server should have security enhancement features, which we can rely on and configure for small-scale businesses. They should provide high-end security at the initial stage. They are coming up with a hybrid cloud as well. There should be a function where one can connect and work; whenever not required, one can deprovision it. They should add things like voice interfaces. Whenever you need VDI, it should be a seamless experience. So those are the features I would like them to improve.

If I want to do any upgrade, in case of a zero-day vulnerability, I have to log out of every system. Then, it could be CCM, or it could be patching, or some other solution. We need to wait for the user to come online. To tackle this issue, they should include a feature like Golden Image management. So that we can build multiple VMs.

We used to work with VMware 3.2 and were the first to implement it back then. We used it for over two to three years. Recently, during the COVID time, we again implemented VMware for the remote management of VDIs. So, we have been using the solution for nearly twelve months now. We were testing and using it.

We need to understand every component, from the first tool to the last, and make a call accordingly. We must implement all the best practices and have a backend storage connection transfer. We need to specify how many VDIs and storage are required. If you calculate everything perfectly, it is a stable product. I don't see any issues in our environment other than a slight issue regarding an agent. Because when the VM agent starts to run from and talk to the different VMware servers, there could be a network interruption. We need to make the changes according to the review of the five users. It's a stable product.

It is a scalable product. We have around 50-80 people in our company using the solution.

I contacted them for a query about one of the zero-day vulnerabilities. They provided some assistance but it didn't help with the security scanner. Again, we interacted with the level two team; they immediately released a fix for that. They are doing it well. They have a proper installation matrix in place. They will do it easily if you ask them to escalate to the next level. You just need to instruct about the engineering level for assistance.

Positive

I had experience working with Citrix. But, I needed more confidence in the product because it depends on the active directory. Its value of profile and image management depends on Microsoft group policy. You cannot use the Citrix hypervisor because it is not stable. Comparatively, VMware is a good product. You get a bundle of features with VMware. With it, you don't have to depend on any other vendor for authentication.

The setup depends on the requirement. Implementing VMware 3.2 was a critical setup, as we were the first to deploy it. With the current setup, the site for deployment, even if it's a dedicated VDI, an automated VDI, or some golden image-based VDI, has no redundancies. The only thing is we need to have some networking knowledge. We need to know which port must be open from where to where and see the proxy and direct model. Also, we need to have a basic understanding of firewalls and networking. It helps us do an implementation faster.

Then it comes to redundant CR architecture, which includes the UA layer, the other view, and different standpoints. If we don't understand the account, we can implement it from an infrastructure standpoint. When it comes to a VDI, we get multiple ways out. Sometimes, auto-provisioning becomes complicated. When you need more automation to meet the requirements, it becomes redundant. We need an end-to-end understanding of the security networks, AD architecture, profiling, group policy, etc. We need to know how the authentication standpoint works. The port must be kept open from one authentication server to capture all the details and complete implementation.

I have been working with Microsoft products for twenty years. I advise others to be clear about their requirements, the use cases, and the kind of VDIs they need. They should know whether they want a centralized management system, out of provisioning, or if they want to build a VIN. They should also decide which purchasing programs to opt for. VMware is the best fix for the organization because they are prevalent in the hypervisor.

I would rate it as a nine. The reason is the number of tickets we have raised to VMware compared to the Microsoft product.

It is a method of providing a user with access to centralized resources in the form of either a full desktop session or a hosted application, whether it is Windows or Linux.

Horizon is known for its simplicity, security and flexibility in its deployment. It allows for simplified management, advanced user configuration and application deployment, all at speed and at scale. Horizon 8 improves on all of these, as most things can be automated by using either Powershell or REST api, and instant cloning is still the fastest way of creating virtual desktops, especially at scale.

Users can now access resources in a safe and simple way, using the same form of authentication as our other resources. They now have access to high performance desktops in the data centre or public cloud, by using hardware graphics acceleration in the servers hosting the VDI desktop solution. Data now stays securily in the data centre and users have incredibly fast access to it, since the desktops now live right next to that data.

The user can now use any endpoint they have available, since all they need is an HTML5 compatible browser or Horizon Client for their specific OS to be able to access the solution.

The most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to provide secure remote access to resources.

A simple way to load-balance components like the Connection Servers, Unified Access Gateways, App Volumes managers and Recording servers.

Since Omnissa Horizon lacks a load-balancing component, you must always use a third-party solution to be able to provide high availability for these components.

I would like to see simple load-balancing for smaller environments that do not have access to large enterprise solutions like F5 or AVI; components should be able to be made redundant or high available in a simple way.

Perhaps limited to only two components; if more are required, a paid load balancing solution can be used.

I have been working with Omnissa Horizon for approximately fifteen years.

The first one I built was version four.

We are working with version eight, and our customers run version seven and some are already on version eight. 

Version seven is already out of support.

The most recent version is 8.16, but they no longer use that numbering; it is now 2506. The new numbering reflects the month and year of release.

The stability of Omnissa Horizon is incredible for both Horizon version seven and version eight.

The only reason the basic component connection server failed was that there was something broken underneath, either storage, compute or antimalware solutions. Horizon itself rarely has any issues.

At present, Omnissa Horizon scales up to 250,000 concurrent sessions.

In my opinion, Omnissa Horizon is a very scalable product. The most prominent companies in the world use it. Some require it to scale to that level, which is why the product is capable of doing so.

I would rate the technical support a four out of five. Since the breakup with Broadcom, support staff has ofcourse decreased, but the focus has increased. There are now only a few products that support actually has to know, which helps in the focus. Responses have been fast and escalating things to the right level seems to be a lot speedier than before.

At this moment, the level of support is mature and still growing.

Positive

I have had experience with Microsoft and Citrix. The switch was made due to the integration capabilities of Horizon with VMware vSphere. This combination is still unique, although they now come from seperate companies. Agreements exist for the next 10 years, so this combination will remain strong for the time being.

It can be deployed in your private cloud, a public cloud, or a hybrid of the two. 

Omnissa Horizon only has one license, which is a license to run desktops. They don't care if you run them on Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba, your own data center, or a combination of those.

There is a cloud platform included to be able to govern it, the Horizon Cloud Console.

The initial setup is dependent on what you compare it to. 

When referring to an on-premises installation, the infrastructure isn't that complex; otherwise, it's just the cloud, which is a service that you use, and that is not necessarily complex.

On-premises you have some components, and there is some designing involved, especially if the environment is medium to large.

The complexity is in your data and your applications, not in Omnissa Horizon.

A PoC is set up in a couple of days.

The basic environment depends on the organization; for example, a complete infrastructure for a large company can take two weeks to set up. You are dealing with a lot of integration with other components, and setting up load balancers and certificates.

It is worth the investment. We have numerous customer success stories about how great Omnissa Horizon is as a product and how it has solved problems for them.

It lowers endpoint costs, reduces IT management overhead, enhances security and compliance, it can help workers gain productivity and provide business continuity and disaster recovery, provides scalability and is cloud flexible.

Simply put:

I am aware of the license models, but not the prices. There are multiple licensing options, please refer to https://www.omnissa.com/horizo... for more information.

I have had experience with Microsoft and Citrix, which are both either lacking in funtionality or now way too expensive.

Do a proof of concept. Set out your requirements and compare them to what the solution can provide.

It is a complete product.

It is fully mature, easy to manage, and it is easy to design if you know what you are doing. 

It is stable and there are new features that come from the new release twice a year.

Our organization is a national cybersecurity agency in Qatar, and we need virtual machines that automatically erase once the user logs out. The solution also enables access to our organization's secured environment through the Internet. For instance, you can be anywhere in the world and still access the on-premises infrastructure securely. 

Once our organization upgraded to the latest version of VMware Horizon, we eliminated the delayed login times we had faced in the prior version. The USB redirection is one of the valuable features of VMware Horizon.

Using the aforementioned feature, I have allowed access to certain types of USB models, and only these authorized models by the employer are accessible in the VDI environment, therefore any USB outside the whitelisted manufacturers won't function in our organization's environment. 

I also find the solution's Unified Access Gateway (UAG) feature useful as it makes administration tasks easier. For instance, if I want to enable a particular network device to access VMware Horizon, UAG makes such processes quick and easy.

At our organization, we are also using VMware Workspace ONE for endpoint management, which facilitates the employees' ability to bring their own devices, which can be used to access the on-premise infrastructure and the applications present on it. 

There are some licensing issues in VMware Horizon, but I believe that the vendor will be able to resolve them soon. Our agency is used to traditional licenses, and when Broadcom acquired the product, they made some changes in the licensing. In the long term, the latest product licensing model might be more beneficial. 

I have been using VMware Horizon since 2018. 

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. The solution can be effortlessly scaled unless and until there are issues with the on-premise infrastructure. Presently, our organization has 2,500 VMware Horizon users. 

Our agency has production support from VMware, but there have been very few instances where we needed to reach out to customer support, which were some rare issues that our team couldn't troubleshoot on their own. Only in instances similar to zero-day vulnerabilities did our agency contact customer support. I would rate the customer support a ten out of ten. 

Positive

Previously in our agency we were using SCCM from Microsoft but VMware Horizon is easier to manage. But both aforementioned vendors have some interdependence when deploying either of their products. For instance, when you want to deploy VMware Horizon you need to use some Microsoft products such as Active Directory and DNS. For end users in our agency, we use Microsoft products and for applications, Linux servers are used. 

The initial setup process is extremely simple, you just need to run the domain controller and active directory and the rest of the setup is related to network communication. The clear and concise documentation from VMware Horizon further assists in the seamless setup process. Any professional with a couple of years of experience in system administration can effortlessly deploy the product. 

VMware Horizon and other products from the vendor are not aimed at small businesses; it's rather ideal for mid-scale and enterprise businesses. VMware Horizon can be considered to be slightly expensive. 

The solution's instant clone technology is used in our organization, which facilitates the auto-deletion of machines once the user logs out. Upon logging in again, a new machine with a new hostname is assigned. 

VMware Horizon can be easily integrated with other tools due to the presence of effective documentation that is easy to access and comprehend. The employees and the end-users of our agency are highly satisfied with the product. 

VMware Horizon supports both on-prem and VDI cloud-based deployment models. I would rate the product a ten out of ten. I would definitely recommend the solution to others, especially for every VDI use case. 

The use case is remote access to VMs. It allows us to remote access the VMs and our servers.

It's centralized management, and you have access gateway to enter the VMs from outside.

The issue now with VMware is that we don't know the future of the solution. Because if you follow the news, it was acquired by another company, and they are changing the old product line. 

I have been using VMware Horizon View for 34 years. 

The solution is highly stable. I rate the stability eight out of ten. 

The initial setup is easy. The deployment took a few weeks time. I would rate the setup an eight out of ten. 

The deployment was done in house with two people. One person is required for maintenance.

The solution is expensive. 

Overall I rate the solution a nine out of ten.