VMware View 4.5 Demo and Features

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Today I got the pleasure of viewing some of VMware’s newest technology at their traveling VMware Express Truck event. It literally is a semi truck stuffed Servers, Storage and VMware demos, and so forth. The main topic was VMware View and some of the features coming out in 4.5 which should be released very soon!

Recap:

  • Offline Desktop Access (View Client with Local Mode)– allows you to “check out” a desktop for instances were you wouldn’t have network access, think plane or cave. This also comes in handy for Bring Your Own PC (BYOPC) and contract workers etc… Video demo at the end of the post.
  • Better Improvements to View Administrator – Including role-based administration, monitoring features, better and simplified reporting and the ability to add 3rd party application support. Which could be used for Altiris, LANdesk and more.
  • Application Assignment-Enables ThinAPP to managed centrally while delivering to pools and/or individuals.
  • Better Optimization Over WAN – Improved PCoIP protocol for better user experience.
  • Tiered Storage– Puts high-need desktops and their storage on fast disks, puts achieved or less important desktops on cheap (relative term) SATA disk. As well, strong partner ships with all the other major players so you can take advantage of hardware efficiency in addition to the software side.
  • More Security– Improved administrator control, remote wipe etc…Integration with VMware vShield.
  • Tons of End-Points To Choose From– Thin Clients, fat clients, WYSE, HP, Samsung has a monitor with the chip built in, iPhone, iPAD (running Windows 7, which was a highlight), and a number of other devices.
  • Ability to Move- Pretty cool demo, but in short you could log in with a smart card at terminal A and run to Terminal B and have the same applications running. Example would be doctor going from room to room.

Editions and Price:

  • VMware View 4.5, Enterprise Edition: MSRP is $150 per concurrent connection and includes VMware vSphere 4.1 for desktops, VMware vCenter 4.1 and VMware View Manager 4.5, a flexible desktop management server enabling IT administrators to quickly provision and tightly control user access.
  • VMware View 4.5, Premier Edition: MSRP is $250 per concurrent connection includes VMware vSphere 4.1 for desktops, VMware vCenter 4.1, VMware View Manager 4.5, View Client with Local Mode, VMware ThinApp 4.6, VMware View Composer and VMware vShield Endpoint 1.0 to enable integration of offline capabilities, image management optimization, application virtualization and centralized anti-virus protection with virtual desktop delivery and management.

Summary of Demo:

It was pretty slick and the user experience was good. There were a few questions that came up. VOIP for one is sort of a sticky question that wasn’t really resolved. Latency thresholds were a little merky. Though there are some workarounds and adaptation that goes on. Finally, how to get from idea to production wasn’t solidify there definitely was going to be a large capital investment. However, I do think VDI is here and isn’t going away and I think there is going to be a ton of offerings over the next 1-3 years!