VMware revamps end user portfolo, launches VMware View 5.1
VMware on Wednesday launched VMware View 5.1 and a series of tools designed to give it a leg up in the desktop virtualization market.
The company essentially revamped its end-user product portfolio including tools for centralized management and an effort called "Project Octopus" that aims to challenge Dropbox.
VMware View 5.1 is the flagship effort, but the company also launched Horizon Applications Manager 1.5, which aims to manage infrastructure and dish applications out to workers.
With VMware View, the company is looking to create a desktop virtualization experience that is as personal and fast as local storage. Vittorio Viarengo, vice president of marketing for end user computing, said VMware has cut the latency to the point where it's "hard to distinguish between the local and remote desktop." VMware said that it:
- Optimized storage in VMware View and added persona management so a user can preserve settings on Windows devices and even keep wallpaper. Viarengo said that "anything that makes the desktop yours will be overlaid on a clean image."
- Simplified management for provisioning configuration management, and policy enforcement.
- Set VMware View so it works with multiple clients ranging from Apple's iPad to desktops to Android devices and Amazon's Kindle Fire.
- And integrated VMware View with its vCenter Operations Center software.
Meanwhile, VMware is positioning the Horizon Applications Manager as a "personal cloud broker" that can dish out software to end users on diverse devices. Ben Goodman, lead evangelist for VMware Horizon, said that the company has been "laser focused on SaaS apps and Web apps and getting them to different devices."
As for Project Octopus, VMware appears to be going after Dropbox as well as Box. VMware plans to offer storage, data sharing and collaboration with a twist. Instead of data going to Dropbox or Box information will reside in corporate data centers.