Workspace ONE brings a one stop shop for end users to access any application regardless of the application type, be it a Windows, Apple iOS or Google Android based application - or even virtual applications such as ThinApps - and published apps using server based computing for example.
End users will simply access the Workspace ONE console, and all the applications based on the device type that is being used to access the Workspace ONE console will be made available to them. Using VMware Identity Manager (VIM) in the background, the end user will be able to single sign-on to the application - based on the access provided. Leveraging the power of AirWatch, the device compliance will be fully validated before the application can be accessed on that device.
AirWatch administrators will be able to enforce compliance policies via Workspace ONE based on user, device, application or location type. Users will be prompted to apply these compliance policies once they launch their desired application from the Workspace ONE console, failing which could restrict their access to the application on that device.
AirWatch has been the industry leader for quite some time for Mobile Device Management, however it always had very limited ability to manage on premise Windows devices such as Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 etc. However, with Windows 10, AirWatch is changing the game yet again and is bringing full scale PC lifecycle management built into AirWatch. You will be able to manage Windows 10 enrolment into Azure Active Directory from the OOBE (out-of-box experience), install applications, enforce group policies to non-domain joined devices and manage Windows Updates from the same pane. You will also be able to granularly control Windows 10 Upgrades from the AirWatch console.
Just as a non-tech person these days can easily configure their Apple or Android based mobile devices with just an email address and a password, AirWatch envisions bringing the same experience to Windows 10. SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) beware - you have serious competition coming, at least in the PC lifecycle management space.
VMware are changing the licensing model for AirWatch and bringing it all under one package. Workspace ONE will have AirWatch and Identity Manager at its core for the Standard and Advanced offering; adding Horizon VDI to the mix with the Enterprise offering.
With Horizon View 7, VMware brings instant cloning to RDSH (Remote Desktop Session Host) servers - giving more power to Just-in-time delivery, leveraging other JMP (Just-in-Time Management Platform) technologies such as AppVolumes and User Environment Manager to hosted desktops and hosted applications. Horizon Apps brings hosted apps delivered through the Just-in-time delivery model over HTML 5, together with SaaS (Software as a service) and other mobile apps all under the same roof.
VMware BLAST has been made even more powerful with Horizon View 7. It is quickly becoming the protocol of choice for lots of customer, and is inching closer to PCoIP (PC-over-IP) in terms of features and functionality.
VDI 2.0, as VMware likes to call it, is the sneak peek into what lies ahead for VDI:
Pay monthly for your VDI solution:
Dell and VMware are making it easier for customers to adopt Horizon View VDI by offering per user monthly subscription models - be it in the cloud or on premise (yes you heard me right). With Dell EMC VxRAIL hyper-converged VMware VDI optimised appliances, Dell is preparing to offer a subscription based model of payment which will include a Horizon View license, providing customers more flexibility when choosing on premise or cloud based VDI solutions.
VMware have taken an agnostic approach to cloud; which gives them greater versatility when it comes to areas such as legacy support for applications or interoperability between different platforms. This multi-cloud approach enables VMware to stretch the enterprise private cloud platforms into areas of public cloud that other providers cannot provide. This partnering with multiple vendors is a core strength that should not be underestimated.
VMware’s partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) has now come to fruition, with further announcements and meat on the bones regarding how this offering works:
All this is built using the same VMware platform used on-premise, so there is no need to retrain staff, learn new processes or rearchitect your applications and platforms. You can run linked mode (hybrid) vCentres to ensure you have a single platform; even though some services are in the cloud.
There are some really good use cases/advantages for using VMware on AWS and these include:
There are of course a few pre-requisites, but these aren’t significant. A few things to be careful of:
Other announcements around cloud interoperability were also forthcoming, with a new VMware cloud verified partner program. These are partners running the same platform as AWS VMware (ESX/vSphere/NSX/vSAN) who have been certified as on the same technology path. Currently, the following partners have this accreditation and provide services right now:
VMware have now (again, where previously lacking) caught up on containerisation, with some more information coming out regarding their Pivotal Container Service (PKS) offering. This service enables enterprises and providers to run Kubernetes on VMware vSphere or Google Cloud. Both platforms are constant with compatibility to Google Container Engine. It’s likely the service will be available before the end of 2017; with more information coming soon.
Last thing on cloud at VMworld. VMware have a number of SaaS offerings in the cloud space. VMware cloud services which are available now/soon include:
VMware’s website has more information on these, or you can contact us as a Premier Solution Provider if you’d like to learn more.
So, outside of cloud (well, public cloud), comes VMware’s end to end software defined data centre (SDDC) offering. Called VMware Cloud Foundation, hardware providers are making verified systems that will run the familiar VMware stack of ESX, vSAN and NSX. This quick and simple-to-deploy hyper-converged stack, topped with a SDDC manager for automation, patching and lifecycle management, provides a simple on premise private cloud - with the same underlying architecture as VMware’s public cloud offerings (AWS/OVH/IBM etc). Cisco, Dell and HPE are the first vendors with supported nodes; however, more will come very quickly.
VMware’s whole strategy at this point lines up. You can run consistent, predictable or security hardened workloads on premise in your data centres; and use the hybrid setup to connect to the public cloud (e.g. VMware on AWS) for burstable and scalable services (as well as cloud native services), development and test - or disaster recovery. Benefit from all this while utilising a consistent familiar management platform and the same architecture, with no need to change your application estate.
NSX has been given an uplift, with investment to make it more multi-cloud ready - and updates that provide interoperability with Kubernetes and OpenStack. Being able to run NSX on any/most platforms and clouds results in a reduction of the number of different networking platforms required - and better enables portability of virtual machines and services.
vSAN has a few updates, mostly around data native snapshots with the ability to move these snapshots to secondary storage (or cloud storage). This will come in useful, as will the replication of these snapshots to a secondary vSAN deployment (maybe even into VMware in AWS?) Support for docker and Kubernetes will also be added. We’ll have to wait until 2018 for these new features, unless the development is accelerated.
- By Matt Hudson (Solutions Architect)
& Karan Diwan (Senior Consultant)