VMware Horizon

Their vSphere product is the best in the industry in regards to virtualization.

Their products, although very sophisticated and technical, are rock solid. Uptime is above 99.99%.

Their documentation is extensive, thorough, and excellently organized.

Their support is top tier with quality support staff and excellent response time.

They could really improve their licensing. It is very very confusing.

They should provide a free license for non-business-related use, i.e., someone wanting to learn on the platform without a large monetary investment.

Separation.

Individual connection.

Quick Reboot.

Saved openings when VM crashes.

Reloading after connection loss.

Better display adjustments.

The use of virtual desktops is very good, generate templates for areas is simple.

The security options that permit to block and allow applications for users are very important in this solution.

The remote support tools for the TI department are very good to resolve problems with a user of other areas that worked remotely.

Horizon has other tools to measure user performance and productivity.

The deployment of environments in smartphones is very useful (integration with workspaces one solution).

Creation of templates based of areas is easy.

We have some problems in Apple MacBooks with M1 processor in early phases.

The integration with Windows 11 is under development.

Optimization of resources to deployment all environment.

Fast deployment

Simplifies management

Reduces latency to datacenter applications

High learning curve for support

Can be expensive for licensing and hardware requirements

VMware Horizon allows us to safely access our company desktop.

Works well for use on windows, Linus and Mac Operating systems.

Easy to install and use by most employees (exception is in the negatives).

Requires very knowledgeable IT staff to maintain.

Set up on the company system can be complicated.

Application delivery

VDI Desktop delivery

The older Flash management console is occasionally slow (but is being replaced by HTML5)

Designing the architecture can be confusing, as there are lots of particular gotchas

Remote connection with no hassle.

File transfer between your local and VM.

It could show us a bit more detail about some connection errors. SSL errors with random messages are not helping us to resolve the problem.

Easy access.

Quick connection.

Better reconnection.

Handle outages better.

Manages the graphics and audio use well.

The initial setup is fairly easy and can be done in a day or two for a simple setup.

Very similar uses to VMware ESXi, and you can use vcenter to manager the devices.

Licensing. This goes hand in hand with cost.

Cost -- every feature tends to cost you, it would seem.

Support can sometimes be hit or miss.

It provisions and works with vCenter very well to access new virtual machines.

There is very little I need to perform on the systems infrastructure other than working on images and upkeep.

I think they are strengths because with so much that goes into creating a managing the images we roll out the last thing you need to worry about are simple issues with the backend infrastructure.

We run into issues a decent amount of the time with nonpersistent desktops not being able to roll over quick enough. This means the end-user gets a black screen while it gives them a new machine. They don't know that so we receive calls that users cannot connect to VMware.

The upgrade process is fairly tedious and most of the knowledge-based articles from VMware are not really real-world scenarios.

The support for this is not the greatest. Each time we have reached out to support for assistance the process has been drawn out and usually, we are unable to get an engineer who is knowledgeable on the phone until we reach out to our contact at VMware.

The desktop experience is much better for remote users because the desktop is next to the applications, all running in the data center.

Mobility is fantastic. I can have the same desktop experience whether I am on a Windows PC, Mac, Apple/Android mobile device, or even if I am just wanting to connect through a web browser.

Application streaming is difficult. The monthly recompose process can be a bear if there are a ton of applications in the base image and implementing the technology that allows for application pools that aren't in the base VM image is time-consuming and unmanageable for a small team or individual.

Keeping a configuration consistent across large numbers of devices.

Reducing costs of deployment.

Greatly simplifying management.

It improves security and simplifies compliance.

Leverages datacenter resources for multiple desktops.

3D support could be optimized, but most organizations do not have a big need for it.

It cannot suit every business need and should be evaluated based on organization requirements.

Until version 7 it was very hard to deliver space-optimized desktop pools without instant clones.

Device agnostic: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, and HTML5 clients all available.

Ease of use: The end user's experience is simple and consistent, regardless of device type.

Stable: Once configured properly, system components are redundant and highly reliable.

Video conference/meeting integrations: Currently only has direct integration with Skype for Business. It would be great if they would provide enhancements for WebEx, Zoom, etc.

Horizon provides a robust and mature desktop interface.

Horizon is flexible enough to configure to fit your environment - whether large or small.

Horizon has decent tools to manage the infrastructure.

The interface to the management console has depended on Flash technology for far too long.

Horizon needs much better graphics drivers, and not just to depend on outside hardware GPU vendors. Those solutions can be incredibly expensive and also incur additional licensing costs (Nvidia for example).

Horizon needs to move away from the PCoIP protocol, it's time to improve and move the display protocol forward. And get away from third party's monopolizing on the display protocol (Teradici).

Powerful platform for providing end user computing in a secure and efficient manner

Integrates seamlessly with VMware vSphere that is a proven and reliable virtualization platform

Integrates well with popular Cloud Providers

Hardware and licensing costs can be a challenge

Steep learning curve

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.

Cost of backend systems hardware (servers, memory and storage) is initially very expensive.

VMware software purchase, licensing and ongoing support is also somewhat expensive.

Requires knowledgeable technical staff to setup and maintain.

Sometimes there are issues with printing to the remote desktop that needs to be troubleshot to resolve.

Needs a better means to upgrade versions without it being a major difficult undertaking.

Easy to use and setup

Very robust set of features from end user and administrative perspective

It solves many problems that Microsoft RDS cannot address

Provides better support and performance when it comes to GPU intensive software solutions

It can integrate with our ERP system in order to simplify user management and automate process

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

The ability to access local files is an excellent feature.

The ability to preserve the state of logged-in users is also nice.

In my experience, this is about as close as one can get to using Microsoft Remote Desktop.

The interface isn't always super straightforward and newer or less proficient users may need some detailed help getting it set up.

It allows us to do more with less in creating an environment tailored for each department.

The amount of technical knowledge needed to run and support from infrastructure means more focus can go to other areas. More personnel can easily be involved in support.

Systems issues, windows problems, drivers etc, can all be easily addressed through the management console to keep end users up and running.

Some of the proprietary application delivery could be a bit better.

Some additional single points of failure to consider.

Roaming profile issues on a particular server can cause issues.

Secure. Doesn't allow copy and paste if configured. Allows for 2FA.

Flexible. Allows you if you have the resources to setup different images for people.

Seamless experience for users.

Setup can be cumbersome.

Thin apps are hit or miss. Depends on licensing for the application.

Administration site is based in Flash. Terrible and laggy.

Management

Configuration

Console

User Interface

Connection

Support

Easier Access

Mobile Access

Better Access

Renders graphics using PCOIP and Blast protocols with great graphic quality.

Provides users a persistent desktop experience without the need for persistent desktops using their linked clone or just in time technologies.

User Environment Manager allows us to control registry values and other user and application specific needs that couldn't easily be done on a non persistent desktop before.

App Volumes gives us the ability to virtualize the applications and then deliver then using GPO to our end users based upon location and permissions. It also give us the ability to only update a single copy of the application and push it live to our employees.

Monitoring of end user session details has been lacking in the product since its beginning. They are starting to work on modules to help this aspect but they are immature and slow to develop.

Troubleshooting issues to the PCOIP protocol are not easy and usually require VMware assistance. Better logging and analysis of errors though the VMware admin utility would be beneficial.

Many users when switched permanently to a Virtual Desktop have a predisposed feeling that they are going to have a slow and laggy experience. This is an issue from previous revisions or bad deployments, but once someones mind has been made up it is hard to sway them back into giving a technology another shot.

Cloud Based Solution

Ability to manage devices globally

Very simple to use

Ability to create "application bubble" for BYOD devices

Expensive to implement because you'll most definitely need a professional partner for implementation

As easy it is to use, it is complex to install. We have about 4 servers in our infrastructure only for this.

Tech support almost never gets back to you on the same day. Even for the critical issues.

Easy to use. It is very easy to access Virtual Desktops from VMWare Horizon View. Performance is great, and using the program is practically the same across multiple platforms.

Multiple platforms. VMWare Horizon View is available on Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS, amongst others. The user experience is very similar across these various platforms. This is crucially important, especially for unplanned access to VDI when a full fledged Windows/OS X machine isn't available.

Great performance - Even without especially robust internet connections, the VDI performance is typically very good. I've accessed it at work, in coffee shops, tethered to my phone, and at home. I can almost always get a usable connection regardless of the connection I am using.

Peripheral access - The peripheral access in VMWare Horizon Client is great! It isn't limited to simple keyboard and mouse access, which certainly does work seemlessly, but also allows multimedia peripherals. We actually have webcams attached to all of our thin and zero clients, and they are perfectly usable from inside VDI, be it in Skype for Business, WebEx, etc.

USB throughput - USB storage throughput over Horizon isn't great. It definitely needs some tweaking in that regard. It is acceptable for small file transfer from flash drives and the like, but far too slow for large file transfers.

More connection quality options - There are very limited options for adjusting the connection quality from the Horizon Client. These would be helpful especially when dealing with very low speed connections.

Resolve minor memory leak issues - The application does sometimes leak memory in Windows 10, causing it to consume more resources than it should.

Ability to set up new desktops quickly.

Faster boot times for PCs.

Virtual machines can grow in space and other resources as long as the ESXi Hosts have the resources.

Ability to create different types of desktop groups called pools and organize the different departments.

Floating Pools need a bit more configuration to get working properly.

Persona management for Floating Pools can be hit and miss depending on how big the users files are.

Need to have View Composer set up on a different server in order for it to be recognized.

VMware Horizon View has limited customizations.