VMware supports WFO by introducing new and expanded capabilities to empower customers, help improve business resilience and prepare for the new distributed, hybrid workforce of the future. These capabilities include a suite of new workplace solutions and new features in VMware Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub built specifically to help customers bring employees back to the office safely. VMware is also introducing enhancements to its flagship virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform, VMware Horizon 8, a truly modern, future-ready solution for more secure delivery and management of virtual desktops and applications across the hybrid cloud.
“Remote work may no longer be considered a luxury, but a necessity, in this new working environment. In fact, remote work has essentially redrawn the lines where personal connections have improved, recruitment is easier, and companies can adapt faster. And technology has allowed us to adjust the way we work in a seamless way,” said Shankar Iyer, SVP & GM, End-User Computing, VMware. “Our announcements on solutions for the re-imagined workplace with Workspace ONE Proximity and Workspace ONE Campus, together with the launch of the first, truly modern platform for virtual desktops and apps are strategic and mission-critical to the distributed workforce. Strong adoption of our solutions validates our commitment to meet customers’ needs as they adapt to the new normal.”
VMware Announces New Workplace Solutions for the Future-Ready Workforce
To support the needs of the modern workforce, VMware plans to deliver a suite of new workplace solutions powered by the Workspace ONE platform. Designed to help VMware customers enable office experiences of the future, these solutions are two new privacy-centric mobile applications – VMware Workspace ONE Proximity* and VMware Workspace ONE Campus*.
With Workspace ONE Proximity, customers can help return employees to the office by utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to give employees insight into potential exposure, notify colleagues of changing conditions, and help recount whereabouts and interactions within an office. As organizations re-design their workplaces, Workspace ONE Campus will be designed to leverage the same beacon infrastructure to support desk and meeting room booking, and wayfinding, further elevating the future workplace experience. Implementing these new workplace solutions will help organizations leverage the infrastructure they already have in place to support vital reopening tasks and future workplace initiatives, such as:
- Self-reporting and automatic proximity notifications
- Tools to help employees recall their whereabouts
- Admin visibility into areas that require deep cleaning
- Occupancy limits and physical distancing
- Omnichannel communication strategies
- Digital badge for entry, kiosks, printing, and more
- Desk and conference room booking
- Office navigation
Through close partnership with internal multidisciplinary teams tasked at bringing employees back to the office safely, VMware leveraged its own Workspace ONE infrastructure to test and is actively working to implement these solutions. The teams have been able to continuously learn throughout this process and adapt the solutions to meet the complex, evolving needs of large global organizations during the pandemic.
A Modern Desktop and Application Delivery Platform
As employees globally are increasingly working from anywhere due to the pandemic, they need quick and more secure access to corporate resources. VMware is introducing Horizon 8, designed to help IT teams more efficiently manage and easily scale virtual desktop and application delivery from a single control plane across public and private clouds. Unlike legacy VDI products, VMware Horizon 8 empowers IT with Instant Clone technology that rapidly provisions full-featured, personalized virtual desktops and applications, powered by proprietary integration with industry-leading VMware vSphere technology. The modern platform further simplifies and automates Day Two management of images, applications, profiles, and policies by leveraging VMware App Volumes and Dynamic Environment Manager technologies to save IT time and reduce costs.
As employees globally are increasingly working from anywhere due to the pandemic, they need quick and more secure access to corporate resources. VMware is introducing Horizon 8, designed to help IT teams more efficiently manage and easily scale virtual desktop and application delivery from a single control plane across public and private clouds. Unlike legacy VDI products, VMware Horizon 8 empowers IT with Instant Clone technology that rapidly provisions full-featured, personalized virtual desktops and applications, powered by proprietary integration with industry-leading VMware vSphere technology. The modern platform further simplifies and automates Day Two management of images, applications, profiles, and policies by leveraging VMware App Volumes and Dynamic Environment Manager technologies to save IT time and reduce costs.
Customers leveraging VMware Horizon 8 can also use the same control plane to deploy and manage hybrid environments that extend to VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, one of VMware’s desktop-as-a-service offerings. VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure supports the features of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop, including Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session, and recently added support for VMware App Volumes, giving customers the ability to package an application once and deploy it to any VMware Horizon platform. This reduces the size and complexity of base images reducing IT time and cost, and cross-platform integration means that customers can consolidate resources and simplify management.
Further, VMware Workspace ONE Proximity is currently in beta and more information on VMware Workspace ONE Campus will be available in the coming months. VMware Horizon 8 is expected to be available in VMware’s Fiscal Q3 FY21, ending on October 30, 2020.
