VMware announces new End-User Computing innovations for universal application delivery and device management to help organisations transform business processes and deliver a more user- and application-centric experience.

VMware End-User Computing solutions help customers bridge from the traditional world of client-server technologies to the new world of mobile-cloud technologies that deliver greater agility, seamless access across user devices and enhanced security. Moreover, with the expertise to help businesses accelerate the upgrade to Microsoft Windows 10 and achieve business mobility, VMware End-User Computing solutions will deliver consumer-grade simplicity, platform heterogeneity and accelerated application delivery for unified endpoint management.

“A fundamental technology shift is underway as organisations seek to embrace and capitalise on business mobility,” said Sanjay Poonen, general manager and executive vice president, End-User Computing, VMware. “The opportunity for transformative change is massive, and VMware is innovating like never before. Our industry-leading VMware End-User Computing product portfolio is uniquely positioned to help customers navigate this transition to the mobile-cloud era.”

Meeting business and employee needs in a new era

The mobile-cloud era challenges enterprises to provide secure access to an increasingly mobile workforce while managing the growing diversity of applications, data and devices. These trends are breaking traditional IT as employees want a unified experience across multiple devices with ubiquitous access to applications, content and services; while IT organisations want greater visibility and control of company data being used and shared; and businesses want a return on investment beyond enhanced individual productivity.

These trends were evident in VMware’s Business Mobility Report, an annual study that examines the state of business mobility among global organisations spanning multiple industries. The June 2015 survey of 1,182 business decision makers (BDMs) and IT practitioners offered insight into the worldwide progress companies are making in the transition from the client-server era to the mobile-cloud era and revealed several key trends.

The report found that:

• Although only 17 percent of organisations have taken the transformative step to business mobility, shifting at least one core business process to a mobile paradigm, the industry is on the cusp of a major shift with nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of businesses actively re-engineering or planning to re-engineer a core business process to a mobile model in the immediate future.
• BYOD is active among many organisations with only 44 percent of companies requiring employees to work with company-owned devices.
• The top three goals for investing in business mobility innovations include increasing mobile workforce productivity (45 percent), streamlining business processes (34 percent) and reducing the cost of supporting a mobile workforce (31 percent).

To read about other industry trends identified by the VMware Business Mobility Report, download the Executive Summary.

Technology preview: “Project A²” to accelerate Windows 10 adoption

Today at VMworld 2015, VMware introduced Project A², a technology preview showcasing the ability to re-define Windows management and pioneer an approach that is unique in the industry, shifting from a focus on endpoint management to a focus on application management.

Windows 10 will drive a major industry shift due to its mobile-cloud focus. Businesses upgrading to the new operating system will need to embrace a new mobile-centric approach to delivering and managing applications, as pioneered by AirWatch by VMware. Project A² can accelerate the adoption of Windows 10 by eliminating the costly and complex process of managing and upgrading Windows PCs and applications by using AirWatch enterprise mobile management (EMM) coupled with new VMware App Volumes application delivery technology.

Project A² will make applications lightweight and easy to deliver, enabling IT organisations to seamlessly move existing physical Windows applications into the new Windows 10 mobile-cloud platform and apply an EMM approach across all applications (universal and classic Windows applications). This new technology will offer IT teams a uniform management experience for their entire fleet of Windows 10 desktop devices along with employee and business owned mobile devices. Moreover, it will deliver a consistent end-user mobile workspace that provides access to all of users applications including Windows, SaaS and mobile, to any device.

For more information on Project A² and VMware’s Windows 10 strategy, visit the VMware End-User Computing product blog. 

Securely delivering any app to any device

The VMware End-User Computing product portfolio provides solutions that are purpose-built to securely deliver any app to any device while supporting Windows 10 and earlier versions of Windows. Introduced today, product updates that will further enable customers to embrace the mobile-cloud and securely deliver any app to any device include:

New VMware Identity Manager Advanced Edition – VMware Identity Manager is the industry's first identity as a service (IDaaS) offering integrated with a leading, enterprise mobility management and security solution. Initially available as part of the AirWatch Blue and Yellow Management Suites, VMware Identity Manager Advanced Edition will be available as a standalone IDaaS solution through the browser on any Chrome, Mac or Windows device. For more information, click here.

Extending Application Delivery and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with VMware Horizon 6.2 and VMware Horizon 6.2 for Linux – Continued innovation in application and desktop delivery will introduce several key advancements in VMware Horizon, including:

• Expanded support for applications at-scale that will deliver a rich user experience to global, multi-site deployment of virtual environments;
• An enriched user experience with support for Skype for Business and NVIDIA GRID vGPU (virtual graphics processing unit);
• New VMware Virtual SAN storage optimisations that will include all-flash options delivering much lower costs and incredible performance;
• Enhanced security capabilities including support for biometric fingerprint authentication;
• Federal government readiness including FIPS 140-2 compliance

In addition, VMware announced VMware Horizon 6.2 for Linux. Designed for customers that require specialised security or high-end workstations, the solution will offer expanded support for NVIDIA GRID vGPU and shared graphics acceleration (vSGA). Along with existing virtual dedicated graphics acceleration (vDGA) support, VMware Horizon 6.2 for Linux will offer a complete spectrum of 3D graphics delivery for any worker or any use case.

For more information on VMware Horizon enhancements and updates to VMware Project Enzo, Project Fargo and Project Meteor, click here.

“Applications play a critical role in how we do business so we focus on working with organisations and technologies that help our end-users work smarter and more effectively," said Craig Fletcher, chief technology officer, CH2M. “VMware End-User Computing solutions enable us to seamlessly deliver any application our end users need on any device, whether it’s a graphic intensive application for a high-end design engineer at a workstation or a mobile application for a knowledge worker to access information on the go. With that agility and flexibility, we’re able to better serve our customers.”

Availability and pricing

VMware Identity Manager Advanced Edition, VMware Horizon 6.2 and VMware Horizon 6.2 for Linux will be available in Q3 2015. Customers interested in pricing can contact VMware sales or a VMware partner.
Additional resources

• Read a blog post by Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware
• Read more about VMware desktop and application innovations, and accelerating the upgrade to Windows 10 in a blog post by Sumit Dhawan, senior vice president and general manager of Desktop Products, End-User Computing, VMwa
• For more information on Windows 10 support in the VMware End-User Computing product portfolio, read the blog post by Erik Frieberg, vice president, marketing, End-User Computing, VMware
• For more information on the VMware Business Mobility Report, read a blog post by Mike Hulme, senior director, marketing, End-User Computing, VMware
• Go to the VMworld 2015 Online Press Kit
• Connect with VMware on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+