Yesterday VMware publicly announced two projects that they have been working on, so I figured I would share some details on those projects that were mentioned in the presentation.
First up is VMware Horizon, while it’s not new, they are getting ready for the release of version 1.5. In the previous release, Horizon was sold as SaaS and it was not hosted at your datacenter. Version 1.5 will change this and you will be able to deploy a virtual appliance and keep it in-house. If you’re like me you probably haven’t given VMware Horizon much of a look… In my case because I couldn’t deploy the appliance and try it out… the SaaS approach probably kept the eyes of many off this project.
I am pretty excited to see it as an appliance though and do look forward to deploying it and running it through its passes and will also be sure to post my review of it. Oh, and in case you don’t know what VMware Horizon is … I would compare it to XenApp… but more of a next-gen product. It allows any application to run on any device… and it presents the same interface on any of those devices… be it a phone, iPad, Droid, or PC/MAC. For more information check out this VMware Blog article: http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/vmware-horizon-application-manager-15.html
The second project that I think you will want to keep your eyes on is Project Octopus. I am much more familiar with this project as I have been a beta tester for quite some time. While I can’t give away too much info yet (as its still under NDA I think), I can tell you about the product and show you where to sign up for the public beta.
Basically, Project Octopus is Google Drive / DropBox / Box.net / blah blah blah. The difference? Its hosted on your cloud, it integrates with your existing infrastructure and most importantly it integrates (or will be anyhow) with other VMware products like Zimbra and Horizon. IF you would like to get your name in the hat for the public beta then head over to http://www.vmwareoctopus.com/
VMware is a lot like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Take vCloud Director, for example, it is the culmination of many of their products… vShield, for example, plays a big role in vCloud Director, but by itself and when it was initially released… I thought who the heck would use this? Why wouldn’t I just leverage the investment I already have in my Cisco ASA’s or whatever… but then you find out they have vCloud Director up their sleeve and its like AHHHH I get it now…. just like a Tarantino film. I think we will see the same thing with VMware Horizon 1.5, we will see a culmination of features from VMware View, and Zimbra and Project Octopus come together to deliver Desktop 3.0 (?) technology.
