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it_user320286 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Processing Manager 2 at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
It’s a more secure environment for desktops than a physical environment, although it lacks incorporation of VDI administration.

What is most valuable?

The ability to log in from anywhere is huge. Remote access is a third party product, but with them working together, it's is great.

How has it helped my organization?

I would say that it’s a more secure environment for desktops than a physical environment.

What needs improvement?

Right now, we use a third party product to do the VDI administration, which has been fairly good for us. We’re looking for one vendor to be able to manage all aspects of the stack to make it more efficient and stable.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not so stable – there’s a lot of new issues that we have not experienced before on the physical desktop side that become challenges for us when trying to solve on the client side. This is really an infrastructure side product, so troubleshooting for us from the client side is more difficult, and we tend to need to escalate and get assistance from the infrastructure staff frequently.

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Horizon 8
May 2025
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We kind of halted everything simply because of several technical issues that needed to be resolved to make the old system more stable before we plan on rolling out more. We’re currently looking at going to a generation 2 VDI with vCenter 6 and Horizon View 6.

How are customer service and support?

I've indirectly dealt with them. My staff have opened cases with VMware, and they’ve always been good to work with. However, sometimes our issues are in house, or caused by a third party, so it’s difficult to know how to divide and conquer, from where we sit at client support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The CIO had a vision and wanted to push toward the anytime anywhere capability for our customers.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I wasn’t involved, but I’m sure they looked at Citrix.

What other advice do I have?

We look at a products, the ability to respond quickly and completely are important. I would wait until the whole system matures a little more and comes together as far as where everything is under one vendor, so that it’s more stable and efficient. A few technical bugs need to be worked out, and we had some trouble with video display, and that could’ve been avoided.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to manage and impressively stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Horizon 7's most valuable feature is the unified endpoint management."
  • "The initial setup may be a little difficult for those with no experience."

What is most valuable?

Horizon 7's most valuable feature is the unified endpoint management, including the Orchestrator feature that helps those without any programming knowledge.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using VMware Horizon 7 for over four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Horizon 7's stability is very impressive.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Horizon 7 is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

VMware's technical support gives wonderful support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used Citrix VDI, but Horizon 7 is easier to manage and has GUIs for everything.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple as there is lots of documentation available to help. However, it may be a little difficult for those with no experience.

What other advice do I have?

I would give Horizon 7 a rating of ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Horizon 8
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Tonatiuh Torres Zamorano - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Manager at ICSI
Reseller
Top 5
A modern platform for the secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps
Pros and Cons
  • "VMware has a lot of experience in virtualization — they are the pioneers in virtualization."

    What is our primary use case?

    Within my company, there are 50 employees using this solution.

    What is most valuable?

    Personally, I prefer Citrix, because you can do a lot of things with Citrix. Still, VMware has a lot of experience in virtualization — they are the pioneers in virtualization. They are both great solutions.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This solution is both stable and it's also very secure, too.

    How was the initial setup?

    It requires some experience to deploy it, but overall, It's not that difficult.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    This solution is expensive. A lot of companies in Mexico find that the price is too high.

    What other advice do I have?

    Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give VMware Horizon View a rating of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees
    Vendor
    It provides employees using many devices with portability but not for Linux desktops which should be included.

    What is most valuable?

    Features like LinkedClone, Desktop Pool with many delivery options and one single pane of glass to rule all desktop environments can simplify VDI management and reduce infrastructure costs.

    How has it helped my organization?

    In my low use-case, Horizon VDI is showing the agility to provide employees using many devices such as a tablet, PC and Mac, with portability but still stay within an active directory environment, with data and software which are in a "usable secure place".

    What needs improvement?

    I think that providing the solution for Linux desktops could be a real improvement as this would deliver desktops for operations and administrative operators without huge licensing costs (Desktops that have LibreOffice, Firefox and Linux client for client-server application). Another enhancement for this product could be a more simplified active directory GPO management through the Horizon Administrator console.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using this solution for one year, but only for demo purposes. We use this solution to try to demonstrate its real value.

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    During the deployment take care with deploying the primary domain controller and the underlying vSphere environment.The VMs must be correctly resolved, NTP must be correctly reached and synchronized to, and PDC must be correctly configured. No issues will be encountered if you watch out for these simple constraints.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The product is mature, and stability is never compromised. In some cases, stability is gained by the underlying infrastructure stability. For this reason, pay attention to infrastructure metrics like storage IOPS and CPU utilization. In my case, the underlying infrastructure is covering up many possible issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I haven't scaled out my infrastructure, because my environment didn't reach the limit.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Customer Service:

    I haven't used it in this environment.

    Technical Support:

    I haven't used it in this environment.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    Yes, I used Microsoft Terminal server (from Windows Server 2003 and 2008). I suggest deploying this solution to a few remote desktops, but still keep a VDI solution because it is lacking in many features like management, mobility and multimedia experience. For this reason, I switched to Horizon.

    How was the initial setup?

    Deployment is not very easy, because there are many implications with the underlying infrastructure (which must be used only as a VDI infrastructure) and Active Directory GPO, which cannot be directly handled by View Administrator.

    What about the implementation team?

    I deployed this solution in house and alone.

    What was our ROI?

    Choosing VDI to save hardware costs is not the goal of Horizon, because the infrastructure and licensing break-even point can only be reached after the 1000th VDI. ROI must be measured in controlling the manpower costs. For this reason, often it is difficult to show the real advantage of the Horizon solution. In my case, because I'm using it for demo purposes I can't give more details about this.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Licensing costs are important and physical infrastructure could not be shared between classic server virtual datacenter and a Horizon environment. In my case the use of NFR costs (only for demo purpose) are near zero, (the infrastructure is made by using recycled hardware).

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Yes, we also looked at Windows Terminal Server.

    What other advice do I have?

    In my opinion, this product should be the first environment that an enterprise company must consider. This product is a potential first player providing a top enterprise solution to deliver VDI in large and very large environments. For this reason, my rating of is 10/10 when considering a solution for enterprise environment and 8/10 in a mid-size deployment.

    Pay attention to how many virtual desktops you should deliver and what is the real desktop utilization.A few desktops and too much customizations could cause an unjustified costs for three years.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is a VMware solution provider partner (sell a private cloud solution) and VMware service provider partner.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user209226 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user209226System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees
    Vendor

    Just for update www.vmware.com Horizon 6 now supports Linux Desktop!
    Enjoy

    Sam Ip - PeerSpot reviewer
    Sales Director at SILVER CUBE GROUP
    Real User
    Network wide access, flexible, and simple for users
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility."
    • "The setup of VMware Horizon 7 is easy. However, we have a lot of experience with VMware Horizon 7."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use VMware Horizon 7 for my company's internal systems, our clients' hosting, and public services.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using VMware Horizon 7 for approximately 10 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    VMware Horizon 7 is a stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability of VMware Horizon 7 is very high.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup of VMware Horizon 7 is easy. However, we have a lot of experience with VMware Horizon 7.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    We pay for the solution annually at a cost of approximately 10,000 HKD.

    What other advice do I have?

    This is a very good solution that is very easy to use for users.

    I rate VMware Horizon 7 a ten out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1655805 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Engineer at a government with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Stable, good technical support, and secure
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature of this solution has been security."
    • "The initial setup was not difficult but there is room for improvement."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using VMware Horizon View for workstation replacement. We are mostly still in the development stage.

    What needs improvement?

    The most valuable feature of this solution has been security.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using VMware Horizon View for approximately one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability has been good.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Whenever I had to use the technical support from VMware I had a good experience.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was not difficult but there is room for improvement.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate VMware Horizon View an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1600827 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Automation & Instrumentation Expert at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    highly reliable, stable, and priced well
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature of the solution is its reliability."

      What is our primary use case?

      We use this solution to maintain the existing ESXi that we have.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable feature of the solution is its reliability.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using this solution for a few months.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      I have found this solution is stable.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      The solution is scalable.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      We have not had any issues with the service from the technical support team.

      How was the initial setup?

      The installation is straightforward.

      What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

      The price of the solution is affordable. However, there are extra fees for support.

      What other advice do I have?

      I rate VMware User Environment Manager an eight out of ten.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      it_user6405 - PeerSpot reviewer
      Engineer at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
      Real User
      VMware Horizon View Feature Pack 1 Test Drive

      VMware released the Feature Pack 1 for VMware Horizon View 5.2 a week or so after the standard release. The feature pack comes with the HTML5 Access (Blast Protocol) and Unity Touch.

      The new HTML5 client for VMware Horizon View 5.2 is something I was looking forward to trying out. Is it a pain to use a full client' No, but having the flexibility to roam around to different devices and not need to install an application is a nice mobility feature.

      Protocol Wars

      The HTML5 client doesn’t use PCoIP, and instead uses VMware’s own Blast protocol. Using a different procol piques my interest because VMware does not own PCoIP, which is a Teradici product. Could VMware buy Teradici' They certainly could, but they haven’t in the past so it seems unlikely they ever will. The talking point response here seems to be that Teradici is a ‘hardware’ company and does not fit VMware’s portfolio which focuses on software. Maybe the goal is to keep using two protocols. Or maybe the long-term goal is to develop the Blast protocol to a point where PCoIP isn’t needed. That is 100% speculation on my part, obviously, and that would be far down the road.

      The agent for the Blast Protocol is an additional application install from the feature pack, and must be installed into the virtual desktop image on top of the View Agent. The software must also be installed to the connection server, and the pool(s) must be edited to enable the ‘HTML Access’ checkbox, etc. The whole process is simple, and doesn’t require a reboot.

      Gunnar Berger has created a video comparing the protocols on YouTube: VMware Horizon View – Blast protocol vs PCoIP. One thing that appears different in the release than in his video of the beta is that the shadowing “functionality” is actually removed. The behavior mimics PCoIP now in that if another client connects then it disconnects the original connection.

      Blast Positives

      Protocol wars aside, I do like the Blast implementation. The video performance is very good, although not as good as PCoIP; the build-to-lossless functionality is relatively noticeable, for example. Watching video shows the real performance differences. Normal usage is solid and responsive, and is fine for a task worker that doesn’t require multimedia.

      From testing the client on different platforms and browsers, I noticed that the client detects whether the connection is coming from a mobile or regular desktop OS and adjusts accordingly. This is very handy, as using Safari on an iPad gives the touchpad overlay option in addition to the other options the tablet interface provides. The below images compare the experience from an iPad with Safari, and MacOS with Google Chrome:

      Blast’s Room-for-Improvement

      This is the first release, so there are going to be rough edges that need some polish. Below are some of the issues in the current release (Feature Pack 1 with Horizon View 5.2):

      1. No Multimedia or Flash Redirection
      2. No ThinPrint Support
      3. No USB Support
      4. No Audio Support
      5. No WebCam Support
      6. Unsupported on Android

      I tried using HTML5 client from my Droid Bionic running Android ICS, even though the documentation does not list Android in the supported platforms. The web page notifies the user of such:

      Proceeding with the Android native browser fails outright, but the client does work in a degraded state with Chrome for Android. The only bug I noticed with Chrome for Android was that the client panel shows up in the middle of the screen, which results in a couple pixel tall line through the desktop when the panel is shrunk.

      Unity Touch

      Unity Touch is a nice feature addition for tablet users, although using Windows 7 on a tablet is not exactly a pleasurable experience. Unity Touch does make it a bit more enjoyable, though. A panel is added to the left side of the interface that gives easy access to programs, files, and running applications:

      Browsing Windows Explorer and the Start Menu aren’t really built for tablets, so moving these to a panel that is made for the tablet experience is perfect. This is a great start to making a full Windows OS (Win8 excluded) more accessible for a tablet.

      Thoughts

      The features added by the Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 1 are great additions to the product, and really add functionality that competing products do not have. The Blast protocol is still a new feature and has limitations of such, but using a desktop inside a web browser is perfect when on a device without the ability to install applications, and it provides easy, quick access at that. Unity Touch is a great usability/experience additional for tablet users that make Windows on a tablet a little more more enjoyable.

      It’s great to see VMware innovating in the VDI space.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      it_user271026 - PeerSpot reviewer
      it_user271026System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
      Vendor

      Waiting to see the improvement.

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      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Horizon 8 Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: May 2025
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      Download our free Horizon 8 Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.