VMware unveils innovations across intelligence-driven Workspace ONE Platform

“2018 has been a transformative year for our Workspace ONE platform,” explained Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “With the previous launch of Workspace ONE Intelligence and the Workspace ONE Trust Network, we introduced the industry’s first intelligence-driven digital workspace platform. At VMworld U.S. 2018, we unveiled innovations to accelerate customers’ adoption of modern management as they fully transition to Windows 10 and embrace Mac, iOS, Android, and Chromebooks. With today’s announcement we continue to deliver new capabilities at a blistering pace that fully embrace the heterogeneity we see across customers in the industry today. And, we have no intention of slowing down.”

Modern Management with the Required Depth for Today’s Heterogeneous Environments­­­

Technology heterogeneity has never been more prolific in the workplace as employees continue to leverage a growing array of devices, OSes, services and apps to work in the manner that suits them best. Embracing this heterogeneity across the Workspace ONE platform helps organisations reduce IT costs and complexity, automate management and security and provide a better employee experience.  

Workspace ONE boasts an extensive list of capabilities that continues to expand as VMware collaborates with leading technology companies to transform customers’ digital workspace environments. New innovations announced today include:

·         Workspace ONE Intelligence Automation Connector: Workspace ONE Intelligence, a cloud-based service that provides insights and analytics with automated remediation capabilities across a digital workspace environment, can now be leveraged with third-party systems via the Workspace ONE Intelligence Automation Connector. Building on existing out-of-box connectors to Slack and ServiceNow, the connector provides a way for customers to connect automated actions and notifications created in Workspace ONE Intelligence with their existing systems such as service desk platforms. 

·         Workspace ONE Sensors for macOS: Workspace ONE Sensors enable customers to query any system attribute from silicon to software (firmware, BIOS, peripherals, apps, etc.) for visibility and compliance enforcement. This capability was previously announced for Windows 10 and today VMware is announcing the general availability of Sensors for macOS.

·         Dell Provisioning for Workspace ONE now with Dell ProDeploy Client Suite: Dell Provisioning for VMware Workspace ONE is a service that preconfigures devices in the factory and ships them directly to end users for a ready-to-work experience with all Windows applications pre-loaded and available immediately to users on first boot. Today, VMware and Dell are announcing this service is now part of Dell ProDeploy Client Suite, which offers comprehensive deployment services that complement the provisioning service. This service can be purchased together with a new Workspace ONE license at a special combined rate as part of ProDeploy.

·         Integration with Flexera AdminStudio for Easy Win32 App Publishing: Customers can now publish existing desktop applications directly from Flexera AdminStudio into their Workspace ONE catalog, avoiding costly and complex re-packaging of Win32 apps.

VMware has also announced advancements to VMware Horizon that are designed to deliver a seamlessly integrated hybrid cloud for virtual desktops and applications. Advancements include:

·         General Availability of Instant Clones and App Volumes for Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS: VMware Cloud on AWS now supports Horizon 7 Instant Clones, App Volumes and User Environment Manager for just-in-time provisioning of stateless virtual desktops. Customers can spin up virtual desktops at an average rate of 1-2 seconds per desktop, and instant clones reduce storage consumed by up to 80 percent.

·         Consolidated Monitoring and Management: VMware is announcing integration of Horizon 7 with the Horizon Cloud Service. This integration provides unified visibility, health monitoring and helpdesk services for Horizon 7 deployments both on VMware Cloud on AWS and on premises infrastructure.

·         Automated Installation of Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS: VMware is previewing the ability to automate several steps of the Horizon 7 installation on VMware Cloud on AWS via the Horizon Cloud Service integration. This will greatly reduce the install time for Horizon 7 on VMC on AWS with streamlined UI for installation.

Implicit Trust from Device to Network

With intrinsic security capabilities built into the Workspace ONE platform, customers can take advantage of better securing any app on any device using, data loss prevention (DLP) policies, encryption, and access management, to name a few.

“As new workstyles are more open, flexible and collaborative, IT departments are tasked to support employees while protecting corporate assets and personal privacy,” said Angela Salmeron, research manager, IDC. “Digital Workspace platforms with inherent security intelligence are pivotal for enterprises’ Future of Work strategies. With it, employees can more securely and seamlessly access relevant enterprise content and apps to do their jobs, across any device.”

Enhancements to the Workspace ONE Intelligence service provide insights that improve visibility from the device to the network and allow IT to automate remediation. VMware today introduced Workspace ONE Intelligence Identity Analytics. Leveraging data from VMware Identity Manager, Workspace ONE Intelligence will provide identify analytics that help IT proactively mitigate risks.  

In addition to Workspace ONE’s intrinsic security capabilities, customers can leverage existing investments in specialised security solutions as part of the growing Workspace ONE Trust Network. By connecting with third-party solutions through Workspace ONE Intelligence, organisations can see a full view of their devices and users, along with the threats that are targeting them.

With this in mind, today VMware unveiled a solution developed in collaboration with Trust Network partner Carbon Black. Now in preview the solution integrates Carbon Black, Workspace ONE Intelligence and VMware AppDefense to extend threat intelligence into the datacenter​, improve security posture, and automate the remediation of advanced threats​.

Also announced are two new offers that allow Workspace ONE customers to easily take advantage of Okta Identity Cloud. The partnership between Okta and VMware ties device trust to user identity via rich conditional access and provides employees with a central, more secure hub to access all apps, services, and devices.

Enhance Employee Experience & Productivity Across More Apps and Devices

With the right productivity apps at their fingertips, employees can get more done, faster, from anywhere. Workspace ONE Secure Productivity Apps are both engaging and intuitive with a consumer-simple experience. VMware today is announcing several enhancements to these apps, including:

·         VMware Workspace ONE Boxer: Workspace ONE Boxer now supports G-Suite corporate email, enabling organisations looking to leverage Google to manage email.

·         Workspace ONE Intelligence for Workspace ONE Secure Productivity Apps: VMware has built connectors to Workspace ONE Intelligence so organisations can get insights into app engagement, crash rates, login times, user behavior, and more.

·         Support for Samsung DeX: Users can now access the Workspace ONE family of apps both on-the-go on their mobile device and connect their Galaxy S8, Note8, S9, Note9 and Tab S4 to a monitor, keyboard and mouse for a desktop computing experience with Samsung DeX. Employees can use their phone to open the VMware apps, use keyboard shortcuts, and drag and drop files all on the big screen.

Commenting on its partnership with VMware, Sean Kae, executive vice president of Global B2B Services, Samsung, said, “Providing access to applications isn’t enough – companies must also enable employees to have a consistent, contextual experience using those apps across all devices. Samsung and VMware continue to expand our partnership to enable employees to be as productive as possible while accessing work applications from their favorite Samsung device.”

VMware continues to innovate on its Horizon platform to enhance the employee experience for virtual desktops and apps across more device types and use cases. New innovations for Horizon remote experience include H.265/High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) encoder support for virtual desktops and apps; remote connection to physical PCs and workstations brokered through Blast​; session collaboration for Linux; and support for the latest Samsung DeX to enable flexible, rich employee experiences.