VMware, Inc. announced VMware Horizon App Manager™, a user-centric management service for accessing cloud applications.
VMware Horizon App Manager represents the first component of the company’s “Project Horizon” vision first previewed at VMworld 2010. Future releases of VMware Horizon will broker user access to a variety of application types, virtual Windows desktops and data resources, while delivering the security and control required by businesses. The result will be a simple, seamless user experience when accessing work resources across the private and public cloud on whatever device the user chooses.
“The mobile and cloud era dictates anywhere, any device access to applications within and outside the firewall, and introduces fundamental new challenges to the traditional enterprise security and management model,” said Brian Byun, Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Applications, VMware. “VMware Horizon App Manager addresses these challenges by re-inventing end-user identity and application management as a cloud service, and providing an easier way for IT and users to embrace a new way to work.”
VMware Horizon App Manager™:
At its core, VMware Horizon App Manager™ includes an identity as a service hub that securely extends a user’s existing identity in systems such as Microsoft Active Directory or other directory options, into third-party public cloud applications like Box.net, BroadVision, Google, Salesforce.com, WebEx,Workday and others. This dramatically simplifies the management of multiple access credentials, a necessity brought about by the growing number of cloud applications now found in a typical enterprise. Simplification benefits both IT and users by collapsing separate identity silos into a single enterprise identity that can secure user access across private and public clouds. In addition, the VMware Horizon App Manager provides an open, user-centric platform for accessing cloud applications within a single application portal that is accessible from a wide range of end-user devices.
As a result:
- Users gain the freedom of easy, single sign-on (SSO) access to their cloud applications through a “storefront like” application portal. The Horizon portal provides a consistent user interface from which users can access their work and personal applications across a broad range of devices. In addition, the user portal provides for the self-provisioning of applications.
- VMware Horizon App Manager™ provides a simple way for IT administrators to control entitlement and access to almost any cloud application through a centralized application catalog. User access is controlled by IT via strong policy management that delivers real-time application usage data for greater operational visibility and license management.
- VMware Horizon App Manager™ extends and federates existing on-premise identity infrastructure, and unlike other federation solutions does not require an enterprise or public organization to make additional capital investments in complex and expensive hardware.
Future releases of VMware Horizon™ will marry the management of existing Windows applications via application virtualization and publishing technologies from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, alongside the management of cloud-based applications.
Additional VMware Horizon App Manager™ features include:
- Multi-Platform/Multi-Device Support – VMware Horizon App Manager™ supports a wide range of mobile devices and computing platforms by providing users access to their applications via almost all major Internet browsers, including Internet Explorer 7 +, Firefox 3.5 + and Safari 5.
- Enterprise Directory Federation/Cloud Identity Hub – VMware Horizon App Manager™ Enterprise Connector is a lightweight, on-premise directory synchronization and secure authentication tool that extends Microsoft AD and other identity directories into the Horizon Cloud Identity Hub. Included in VMware Horizon App Manager, the Cloud Identity Hub manages access to an organization’s third-party cloud application services without requiring additional federation software and network gateways. In addition to reducing the total cost associated with managing separate identity silos and eliminating the complexity of having password credentials for each application, the Enterprise Connector allows organizations to keep AD passwords secure behind corporate firewalls.
- Standards Based Secure Authentication – VMware Horizon App Manager™ employs standards based authentication via Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and Open Authentication (Oauth), and offers multi-factor authentication, including options from RSA. For non-federated authentication (for legacy web applications), Horizon App Manager provides split-key identity storage in VMware Horizon’s secure identity vault.
- Application Provisioning – VMware Horizon App Manager™ enables IT administrators to entitle and automatically provision accounts for a growing number of cloud-based applications that have provisioning-ready APIs – including Box.net, Google, Salesforce.com, SlideRocket, VMware Zimbra, WebEx and others.
- Roles-Based Access and Reporting – Administrators can quickly enable access to applications by user, group, and/or role, and can identify which entities within the enterprise have control of various applications. VMware Horizon App Manager™ simplifies security associated with application access—while strong policy management delivers robust user activity reporting.
A New Way to Work in the Cloud:
More than ever, enterprises are dealing with two fundamental client computing pain points – providing secure access to an increasingly mobile workforce; and managing the burgeoning diversity of data, applications and devices needed to run their business. These challenges result from the transformative nature of cloud computing and the post-PC era.
In this environment, a new way to work is required. The growing VMware End-User Computing portfolio seeks to free end users and IT organizations from more than two decades of complex, device-centric computing and deliver a more user-centric, consumer cloud experience for the enterprise. This approach to personal computing enables organizations to leverage public cloud resources while extending existing security models and providing access to applications and data from any device, where and when a user needs it.
Establishing a new end-user computing model is a fundamental component of the VMware vision for IT as a Service – the transformation of IT to a more business-centric approach, focusing on outcomes such as operational efficiency, self service, competitiveness and rapid response. This means IT shifts from producing IT services to optimizing production and consumption of those services in ways consistent with business requirements. This changes the role of IT from a cost center to a center of strategic value.
Pricing and Availability
Available today to select early access customers in North America and Asia Pacific Region, and via trials in other regions, VMware Horizon App Manager™ is $30.00 per user/per year. For additional details on VMware Horizon App Manage or to learn more about the VMware Horizon ISV program go to www.vmware.com/go/horizonappmanager.
