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Frieda Cheng - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Amidas Hong Kong Limited
Real User
Top 5
The solution is easy to setup and maintain, but system integration needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that VMware Horizon is easy to setup."
  • "The system integration also needs some improvement."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is used for remote access and copying.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that VMware Horizon is easy to setup.

What needs improvement?

The support can be improved because at present, there is some delay in responses even though they improved some Microsoft Team support. The system integration also needs some improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the VMware Horizon for five years. 

Buyer's Guide
Horizon 8
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is not easy to scale for large enterprises. 

How are customer service and support?

VMware Horizon's support team is not well-equipped to provide answers or give details on how to fix the problems.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. The solution's deployment takes one day and requires a maximum of five engineers. VMware is easy to maintain. 

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

The solution's pricing depends on certain factors. It would be best if you know which components you are looking for, as you may have other hardware costs. It is recommended if users want to use the VMware HPE as the hypervisor.

What other advice do I have?

As we are in an enterprise environment, we may have many use cases. Compared to Citrus, they have a single industry token that supports many use cases. If we enable users and the portal, Horizon needs a collection of different authentication methods. It's quite competitive for users and complex for enterprises if they have many use cases.

I rate VMware Horizon a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Manager, IT at The School of Research Science
Real User
Top 20
Good virtual desktop infrastructure, but login capabilities could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "The support from VMware is very good and they have amazing experts."
  • "The system is not designed to allow the client to log in easily."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is the virtual desktop infrastructure.

What is most valuable?

We have found this solution valuable because it has cut our costs for purchasing new hardware.

What needs improvement?

The product could be improved by correcting how information is provided because we have issues with the client and the backend. The system is not designed to allow the client to log in easily and multiple passwords are required. This could be improved by requiring the client to input only the active directory username and password.

The primary problem we are facing is logging in locally on the SIEM client as a local, then click on the Horizon Seven and then call or connect to the server connection, then use the administrative username and password to log in, which is difficult for the students when we are dealing with the student. This is the most challenging stage because the rest of the backend is okay. We would like to see improvements to this problem and understand why there is no compatibility between the SIEM client and the backend.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for about four years and are currently working with Horizon Seven. It is deployed on-premises.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. There are 200 people using it in our organization. However, it is difficult to maintain because the handover from our third party was bad. There was no adequate knowledge transfer.

How are customer service and support?

The support from VMware is very good and they have amazing experts. Whenever I raise a case to VMware technical support team, they respond immediately and fix any issues we have. They are very professional.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was difficult. I rate it a seven out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

We used the resellers to set up. However, the reseller we used is no longer in the market anymore. The company closed.

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

The product has high license costs. I cannot give an exact figure on the price as our procurement department handles this. However, we would rate the licensing fees a nine out of ten because of how high it is.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a seven out of ten. The product is good, but improvements can be made to how information is provided. We recommend this solution to new users who want to start working with it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Horizon 8
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sam Ip - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales Director at SILVER CUBE GROUP
Real User
Network wide access, flexible, and simple for users
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility."
  • "The setup of VMware Horizon 7 is easy. However, we have a lot of experience with VMware Horizon 7."

What is our primary use case?

We use VMware Horizon 7 for my company's internal systems, our clients' hosting, and public services.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VMware Horizon 7 for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VMware Horizon 7 is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of VMware Horizon 7 is very high.

How was the initial setup?

The setup of VMware Horizon 7 is easy. However, we have a lot of experience with VMware Horizon 7.

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

We pay for the solution annually at a cost of approximately 10,000 HKD.

What other advice do I have?

This is a very good solution that is very easy to use for users.

I rate VMware Horizon 7 a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Senior Associate at NTT DATA
Real User
Helps to reduce server load but performance is slow
Pros and Cons
  • "Horizon 7 is scalable - we can add more machines or servers easily."
  • "Horizon 7's performance could be improved."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that when we access the machine, it automatically builds on the back-end and provides to the user. Then when the user logs off, the machine logs off automatically or is destroyed, which helps to reduce load on the server.

What needs improvement?

Horizon 7's performance could be improved. For instance, when I launch the VDI, it takes a very long time to boot.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Horizon 7 for about six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Horizon 7 is stable, though its performance isn't the best.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Horizon 7 is scalable - we can add more machines or servers easily.

How are customer service and support?

VMware's technical support is not the best - instead of providing troubleshooting, they give us documentation that we're supposed to use to find solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very simple.

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

Horizon 7 is cheaper than some competitors, like Citrix, because it includes solutions for the server side, the VDI side, and the hypervisor side. 

What other advice do I have?

Horizon 7 is best-suited to small environments. I would rate it seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Great for desktop management and ensuring users have a uniform experience
Pros and Cons
  • "Great for desktop management, particularly when it comes to all the upgrades."
  • "Lacking in documentation for app settings."

What is our primary use case?

We're a payroll company and understandably security is pretty important for us. When a user takes a laptop home you have to manage encryption in case they lose it. With everything in our data center, there's no risk of lost data because everything is run in the VDI. That's our primary use case for this product. I'm a systems engineer and we are customers of VMware Horizon View.

What is most valuable?

This product is great for desktop management, particularly when it comes to all the upgrades. It enables you to update one golden image, save it and basically deploy it. Any user logging in will get that new DDI and you've only had to upgrade one machine. The other advantage is that because you're pushing out this image, it's a clone of the original so everybody has the same experience. That's not always the case when people use different laptops, adjusting and tweaking them. It makes management a lot easier. There's also the huge savings we've had with the pandemic because everybody had to work from home. Even if there weren't enough laptops to go around, almost everybody has a home computer. It was just a matter of installing Horizon on your home computer and connecting to the office using two factor authentication. They made it really simple.

What needs improvement?

I believe documentation could be improved. There's a product in the solution called DEM, which is for screening applications or importing settings into a particular app. In VDI machines your profile's replicated or just live-streamed from the supplier server. Things like Google Chrome, with all its different application settings and passwords and whatever, is stored in zip files that are extracted when you log in. Horizon works with this but documentation is lacking. The applications have changed so much, but the company doesn't seem to be keeping up with that. The product needs to be simplified, have more documentation, and some predefined applications so that users don't have to re-engineer things each time.

For an additional feature, it would be great if they had automatic replication of all the stored profiles so we're not having to use third party tools to do the replication of their users' profiles. It would mean that you can use it as a disaster recovery server, as well as just active-active across data centers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's important to set it up correctly and maintain it properly. Once it's working, it's really stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable, we currently have around 300 users and about five people who take care of everything connected to the product, including maintenance upgrades and everything. We'll expand usage if the business grows. 

How are customer service and technical support?

There are certain aspects of technical support that are good and you can get a quick response. At other times there are issues where the blame game kicks in and you have to wait for somebody to take ownership of the problem. They're generally okay. 

How was the initial setup?

In this instance we were implementing in two data centers and introducing not only a VDI, but also replicating all the data from one place to the other. Deployment involved building Microsoft clustered file servers and setting up replication between those two file servers and then mirroring the configurations. It probably took us about six months but we were doing other things at the same time. If we'd focused only on that, I think it would probably have taken about a week or two. It depends how much effort is put in. 

What was our ROI?

We definitely have an ROI. Previously, we had to patch every single laptop which was a drastic pain. With everybody now working from home, that created a whole bunch of new challenges but with VMware everything's saved in our network so no matter what's happening on the home network it's not carrying over into our business.

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

The product requires a Microsoft license for the operating system, which is standard. If you want support and upgrades, you pay for that. 

What other advice do I have?

This is a great product but it's a massive product and you can't do anything with Horizon View alone. It requires all the other products flying together with it. It's a very complex product and it takes a lot of time to become knowledgeable about it. It's crucial to have decent hardware before implementing this solution because it's fairly resource intensive. If this is new to you, be prepared for a fairly long project because there are so many moving pieces and it's fairly complex, and it requires having a lot of things in place before you can even begin.

I rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Director of IT at BLDD ARCHITECTS INC
Real User
Top 20
The ability to reliably virtualize desktops and support them. Simple to say, but complicated nonetheless.

What is our primary use case?

We were spread across several offices and with the main production software tool and the weak WAN infrastructure, it was impossible to share data reliably. It seemed the only solution was to centralize the data and make it so the people using the data - the workers - could be anywhere. With past experiences in server virtualization, I investigated VMware View. It was the missing key that made this all work.

How has it helped my organization?

At this stage, a couple of iterations later, workers now only come to the office a couple of days a week. The company has been able to eliminate two offices entirely, and in addition, we have a much wider base of operations because employees can live practically anywhere in our "territory".

What is most valuable?

The ability to reliably virtualize desktops and support them. Simple to say, but complicated nonetheless. 

What needs improvement?

Almost all VMware products are "designed" for the enterprise and it sometimes takes some wise wrangling to make it financially viable. And VMware doesn't make that easy. I think the SMB market is largely untapped and maybe even ignored.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VMware is incredibly stable. Even when you don't know what you're doing. And for the times you get stuck - that's why they offer support. VMware support is pretty good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

VMware products are almost infinitely scalable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Tech support by and large is excellent. There is some swapping out between internal VMware groups sometimes, they are very compartmentalized but they generally can get you out of just about any hole you dig yourself into. 

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

No. I had used VMware in a "past" life and didn't even consider other solutions as viable.

How was the initial setup?

It's not shake the box easy but if you do your homework, do some rudimentary testing and do a lot of research it's possible, viable - you can even do it yourself.

What about the implementation team?

I did it all in house on my own.

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

It's not cheap but compared to constant hardware refreshes it doesn't take long to pay itself back. 

Don't be afraid to search out your own solution. It's not that hard to architect a viable virtual desktop environment. You don't have to implement each and every feature. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, as stated above.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chetan Woodun - PeerSpot reviewer
Chetan WoodunSenior Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User

While the VMWARE part itself is stable, other common issues with Horizon include users unable to authenticate in the Horizon client & getting errors like " no desktop is available"

Ricardo Franco Mahecha - PeerSpot reviewer
VMware Consultant at V2S Corporation
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Offers good scalability and stability
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to scale. I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten."
  • "There is room for improvement in the integration with other parts of the suite. For example, you currently need separate windows to manage app volumes and the dynamic environment manager (DEM)."

What is our primary use case?

I use VMware Horizon for a variety of workforce, both internal and external.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution is easier to deploy and maintain on any Windows desktop, making it simpler to manage. It provides a robust infrastructure.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the instant clones, the integration with ESXi, and the center servers are the standout features.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in the integration with other parts of the suite. For example, you currently need separate windows to manage app volumes and the dynamic environment manager (DEM). So, it's important to integrate all these infrastructure elements into one window.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for six years. We used version 7, now we are using VMware Horizon 8. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale. I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of the initial setup was acceptable. 

What was our ROI?

There is a big return of investment. Because I implemented it in a university, and they mentioned that the administration of lab PCs became much more efficient. Tasks that used to take a month now take less than a week, so it's a significant return on investment.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I recommend choosing the best implementation company because sometimes clients aren't happy with Horizon due to poor implementation. I've seen this happen often. So, selecting a company with a lot of experience and successful implementations is essential. Sometimes, users get frustrated not with the product itself but with the way it's implemented.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Research Engineer
Real User
A big, stable solution with good user profiles and policies
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution includes good user profiles and policies."
  • "The standard license does not include certain features."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses the solution as a virtual desktop for clients at universities and banks. One customer has more than 200 users who log in from anywhere. 

What is most valuable?

The solution includes good user profiles and policies. 

The solution integrates well with other VMware products.

Productivity is improved with use of the solution. 

What needs improvement?

The standard license does not include certain features. 

Customers do not understand the requirements for VGA solutions so education and marketing are needed. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable compared to other platforms. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable to any number of devices or users and integrates well with other VMware products. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is responsive and solves issues quickly so I rate support an eight out of ten. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used Citrix.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward in comparison to Citrix. 

What about the implementation team?

Our internal team implements the on-premises solution for clients and utilizes third-party providers for VGA components. 

Ongoing maintenance only requires two team members. 

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

The pricing can be a challenge because certain features are not standard and require a separate license. 

The solution can be costly for customers who do not run mission-critical applications or who have less than 50 users. For these use cases, we recommend alternative products. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated other options that included RDS. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is big and stable with many features. Integrations and user scalability are easy compared to other products. 

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Horizon 8 Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Horizon 8 Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.