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For the second day in succession at VMworld 2017, host VMware merely enacted new-product news it had announced months ago.
On Aug. 28 it was the official release of its development cloud on Amazon Web Services; on Aug. 29 it was all about Workspace ONE and the hyperbole-riddled term “user experience.”
Back on March 14, the virtualization software market leader unveiled updates to its Workspace ONE product that cram into that platform such functions as application and access management, unified endpoint management (AirWatch) and virtual application delivery (Horizon). We’re talking about a lot more functionality in a single far-reaching application, resulting a much-improved UX (user experience).
The new additions, which extend to Apple Watch, are designed to help enterprises connect previously siloed data stores, cloud services and mobile management platforms. This ostensibly enables all corporate employees to get onto the same page and stop spinning their wheels finding business apps, information and contacts.
Virtualization Can Open Doors for Older Apps
An important aspect of Workspace ONE is that, through virtualization, it can give legacy apps extended life in order for them to keep pace with the mobile workforce. For example, employees can now be up and running in a few minutes using all their familiar apps with out-of-the-box enrollment and self-service applications. This new approach eliminates the complex, expensive and error-prone virtual desktop management model, and security is strengthened with the ability to quarantine and update any device in real time using the cloud.
This same model is available for both Windows 10 and macOS with Workspace ONE, VMware said.
Workspace ONE will also offer cloud-based peer-to-peer (P2P) software distribution technology to install large applications to distributed PCs at scale. This capability eliminates the need for costly branch office servers that requires siloed infrastructure management.
VMware claims that Workspace ONE is the first one to manage Chrome devices, making it the industry’s only cross-platform digital workspace for iOS, Android, Windows 10, macOS and Chrome OS. Developers will take note of the fact that this platform now is able to integrate application programming interfaces (APIs) from major endpoint platform providers to stay in step with the latest innovations in devices and applications.
Partners Also Validating Updated Workspace ONE
Partners such as HP Inc. further validated the solution by powering the HP device as a service (DaaS) product using Workspace ONE.
Enterprises that want to adopt Office 365 but are challenged with complicated provisioning and delivering secure experiences across endpoint platforms may be interested in Workspace ONE. The platform now gives customers the ability to enforce and manage security policies and data loss prevention (DLP) alongside all of their applications and devices, VMware said.
There’s a promising add-on that will become available later in the year: VMware Workspace ONE Intelligence. This is a new addendum to Workspace ONE designed to deliver insights and automated actions to help accelerate planning, enhance security, and improve end user experience.
Insight into application deployments, usage, device security, and end-user experience will help IT understand the performance and security of their digital workspace environments. In addition, a built-in rules engine offers customers automated actions that enable real-time security and performance optimization unavailable in legacy models.
VMware, which bet $1.54 billion on acquiring AirWatch three-and-a-half years ago, has been busy ever since putting that company’s intellectual property to work in new and different ways. This is the largest move forward yet.
Availability
Updates to Workspace ONE in addition to Horizon 7 with Cloud Foundation and Dell EMC VDI Complete with Horizon Apps are expected to be generally available in Q3 FY18.General availability for Workspace ONE Intelligence is expected in Q4 FY18, the company said.