Amazon WorkSpaces vs. VMware Horizon

With a substantial free tier, AWS is a solution for fast, reliable and secure access to tools and workflows for any project. AWS is still the most intimidating cloud solution to approach. While there is no shortage to power and solutions, it is not for the faint of heart. It is easy to get lost while using AWS though the solution is there. Amazon WorkSpaces (VDI) requires an IT manager with experience deploying applications and building databases. Comparably, Parallels is a much easier UI to navigate, along with many open source and free options.

Incentivized

VMware is well suited to a business where there will be many remote users needing to connect to the companies desktop. The installation on a remote computer is simple and is easy to use remotely but can be complicated to set up on the back end on the office system. It may not be worth the effort for a company that has few people who need remote access.

Incentivized

• Quick, clean access to the VDI images.
• Easy provisioning of images to use based on multiple criteria.
• Integrating with our other products (AV/AM, productivity, etc.).

Incentivized

• It provides a robust, secure, rich desktop environment that is able to access all internal network resources.
• Addresses security and compliance concerns as all data resides within the internal network. All data accessed stays within the internal network and does not need to traverse a VPN to the local desktop where it may be cached, etc.
• The connection is thin client that does not require large amount of bandwidth.
• Client application is available for all common devices and O/S’s.
• No need to install, configure and maintain applications on local desktop.

Incentivized

• Copy and paste does not work well
• The performance is degraded during the day being slow at the end of the journey
• Some user interface issues displaying the page
• Sometimes when I type a word a letter is pasted many [times]

Incentivized

• Move away from Adobe Flash version in UI, currently on the path but they need to hurry up
• Speed up the boot process of the environment when servers need maintenance
• Provide clear steps on what should be upgrade path in terms of components, the order
• price! A bit too much

Incentivized

We are committed to VMware Horizon and we plan to stick with it for the future unless something drastically changes.

Incentivized

VMware Horizon is very easy to use. It is very easy and quick to log in remotely. It is very easy to install remotely. It is usable easily on many different operating systems. It is easy to set up which tools are available to each remote user so that each user has just what they need to perform their work without any extra tools cluttering up their space or bogging down the system.

Incentivized

Performance is excellent of you provide the needed hardware to support the sessions/connections. Pages load very quickly at the client end as the thin client application does a very good job and requires very little bandwidth. All applications function well, as they are running on a session on an internal server that is accessing data directly on the network

Incentivized

AWS support in general is pretty good, and WorkSpaces is no exception. We haven't had too much need for support but on the occasion we have, they've been quick to respond and helpful. Our issues have been resolved rapidly.

Incentivized

It is surely way better than Citrix, but it could improve a bit. Usually, they send us the solution without saying what was the root cause so we can avoid breaking something in the future. Besides that, VMWare support answers in an OK time-frame and even speaks our language (Portuguese).

Incentivized

Cisco AnyConnect is a VPN client and using a VPN can reduce the internet speed. It is not quite reliable as workspaces. Cisco AnyConnect is not at all optimised for linux machines. They suffer a lot from crashing and loss of internet speed. Workspaces works quite well even on linux machines

Incentivized

Although I really prefer Microsoft Remote Desktop for accessing Windows servers (from Windows machines especially), and this can be done from off-site with a VPN, this entails much more effort, namely getting everyone's Active Directory in the correct group to have access. VMWare Horizon is a much simpler solution in terms of granting access. Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer are really not viable solutions for remotely accessing servers in business settings, although they work alright for home servers and such, especially from off-site.

Incentivized

• Faster project deliverables
• Security of our database
• Have complete control over virtual networking
• Vds Lagging issues at times due to heavy usage

Incentivized

• Saved money on PC purchases.
• Save a lot of man hours by not having to image new PCs. We just create one Template VM and clone the others from that.
• Bit of a learning curve to get the deployment right for the environment.
• Ability to make sure VMs always turn back on once they are shutdown. This speeds up load times for users.
• Less management for our PCs. If one gets a virus or something corrupts we just refresh it and within 5 minutes the user is back to work.

Incentivized