Horizon 8 Reviews

Our company uses the solution as a virtual desktop for clients at universities and banks. One customer has more than 200 users who log in from anywhere. 

The solution includes good user profiles and policies. 

The solution integrates well with other VMware products.

Productivity is improved with use of the solution. 

The standard license does not include certain features. 

Customers do not understand the requirements for VGA solutions so education and marketing are needed. 

I have been using the solution for four years. 

The solution is stable compared to other platforms. 

The solution is scalable to any number of devices or users and integrates well with other VMware products. 

Technical support is responsive and solves issues quickly so I rate support an eight out of ten. 

Positive

I previously used Citrix.

The setup is straightforward in comparison to Citrix. 

Our internal team implements the on-premises solution for clients and utilizes third-party providers for VGA components. 

Ongoing maintenance only requires two team members. 

The pricing can be a challenge because certain features are not standard and require a separate license. 

The solution can be costly for customers who do not run mission-critical applications or who have less than 50 users. For these use cases, we recommend alternative products. 

I evaluated other options that included RDS. 

The solution is big and stable with many features. Integrations and user scalability are easy compared to other products. 

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

We use it in our call center, in the warehouse where we prepare products for stores, and in the warehouse.

We have 1,000 users in my organization. It's deployed on-premises. We stopped updating it in 2013 and 2017 because we used Windows 7. 

When COVID-19 started, we organized our call center remotely. The solution allowed our users to work from home.

I like that it updates quickly and allows users to have virtual desktops.

I would like to see more useful monitoring within users and a more useful help desk. 

I have used this solution for about six years.

We haven't had any problems with the infrastructure. There haven't been any bugs, but there have been glitches in the newer versions.

We haven't had any problems with scalability. It works quickly and we can scale up our infrastructure within about 10 minutes.

For technical problems, support has been fast. They were critical for implementation and installation.

I have also used Citrix.

When we started using Horizon, Citrix was more user-friendly and integrate-able. But we've found that the new version of Horizon is more useful and user-friendly with each new feature.

For Horizon and all other VMware products, setup isn't easy, but it isn't hard. Maybe the problem is with the documentation and consultation. After consultation with my colleagues in other companies, they gave me answers to all my questions.

In previous years, the documentation was not a problem. With the latest version,  there's too much documentation compared to their last available version.

It took about two or three weeks to set up. We worked to prepare images and tools for our several user groups, which was used as a test to prepare for switching.

There were two people involved in deployment: me and a network administrator.

There haven't been any maintenance requirements.

I would rate this solution nine out of ten. 

My advice is that users are interested in relevancy, and the version is not important to integration.

The solution is useful for anyone working from home. It enables connection to office workstations and open corporate portals. We can access all files and folders, and collaborate with other team members. I'm a company manager. 

This product works quickly and is reliable. You feel like you're working on your own desktop and not on a remote desktop.

The one thing that could be improved would be to implement more robust audio redirections. When we are talking on headphones, using Teams, or any other communicator, there shouldn't be any lag time, voices cutting out, or interrupted connections. It has improved from what it was initially, but there's still a way to go. 

I've been using this solution for two years. 

The solution is definitely scalable. If you want to change computer size, or need more horsepower, it can be done. You can also work with multiple flavors of operating systems and if you need to test and work with Linux servers, or open two or more windows, you can do that too.

The solution requires very little technical support because the environment is very stable. The vendors provide great training and have a good knowledge base if any assistance is required. 

I previously used Dell vWorkspace but they halted development when it was sold. We had concerns regarding ongoing support and the lack of development so we switched to Horizon. 

The initial setup is really straightforward. It doesn't take more than five minutes and doesn't require external help. 

I recommend this product and rate it nine out of 10. 

We are using it to provide our users with a personalized desktop experience when they're working remotely, especially during the pandemic.

We are using its latest version. We usually deploy it on-prem, but I know that there is a possibility to put it on the cloud.

It is simpler and faster to deploy new versions and updates. It is also easier to make sure that everybody is using a standard image or a standard setup.

One of the most interesting features in the enterprise version is the ability to do some support. There is a feature for remote control and debugging, which is something we didn't have before having Horizon 7 and the enterprise version.

It is safer in terms of viruses and other types of attacks. If a machine ever becomes compromised, you can just destroy it immediately by logging off and having it recomposed.

The most important feature that is missing is the ability to do some remote support on the client itself. For example, if somebody has a Horizon client installed on his machine, there should be a way to support his local machine as well. That's because most of the problems can't be solved very often due to the computer or the setup that someone is using on his personal machine. Because a Horizon client is already installed on the machine to access the environment, it would be nice if the client itself possessed some sort of remote control tool in it so that if needed, we could support both the virtual setup and the actual setup of the machine. It pretty much does everything well. It is mostly the support aspect that can be improved. You have perfect control over your in-house environment. You have a solution that can pretty much be used anywhere, but you have no control over the machine that's being used to access your environment. Definitely, that's where most of the features are lacking. There should be an option for remote control and maybe some options for conformity. For example, if somebody installed the Horizon client on their shared computer, there could be some safety features or safety checks that were implemented in the client itself to make sure that the person using it is not using a compromised machine or something like that.

Its integration with third parties can be improved. Sometimes, there is a lack of integration with third parties. For example, we had issues at some point with Adobe products running in virtualization. I know they have a very hard time running in a virtualized environment and performing correctly. They work, but they're very slow, and they're hard to support.

I have been using this solution for probably close to two years.

The solution is very stable. It is very robust. The most fragile factor is the actual VM or the OS that you run on it. You might have a good virtual desktop solution, but if your VM that is running has an actual bug in it, such as a faulty patch or a problem that has to do more with software, then you're stuck with it anyway. 

Its scalability is very good based on what I have seen so far. It is easy to scale it up or down, and I haven't seen any constraints of any kind.

Usually, at any given time, there are close to a hundred users who are using it. It is used by all departments. We use it everywhere, and it is used extensively. We don't really plan to extend it because it is already fulfilling all of our needs, so we don't need to upscale or downscale it. It is just perfect right now for our needs.

It often depends on who you end up with. I've seen some people who go the extra mile and solve your problems really easily and quickly. If they don't have a solution, they'll make sure that somebody is able to help you. I've also seen the complete opposite at times where you have trouble trying to get follow-ups. It really depends on who's handling your case, and the fact that their support center is in India doesn't always help. I don't know if it's a language barrier or a social barrier or something else, but it's not easy. They are on the better side than the worst, but there is definitely room for improvement.

We were using Horizon 5. Before that, I've used different technologies but not in this environment. I've used a Citrix Metaframe in a different environment and not at this job.

It was very straightforward. It was a lot simpler than previous versions.

It was an in-house job. We were using Horizon 5, so we already had some experience with the product.

For its maintenance, one or two people are enough.

We have definitely got an ROI.

It is hard to know for sure. It is definitely in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. It is quite expensive, but you do save money on desktop power, desktop upgrades, etc. You're able to extend the useful life of your previous desktops. Previously, we used to change desktops regularly, and now we just change them when they break.

If you're currently looking for a solution that's in-house, it's a great solution. If you're looking into something that's more cloud-based, then you should definitely try a successor, which is a Horizon 8 or Horizon Air.

I would rate Horizon 7 an eight out of 10.

We used this solution for a complaint management and support system. The project was a combination of Horizon 7, VMware, Oracle Database, Apex, and GlassFish. Most of them were deployed on Linux or Windows, and we implemented a center to manage the VMware cluster.

The main software, based on Oracle Database, gave the operator a terminal and different kinds of forms for entering the data that they got from the customers. The virtual machines were based on Horizon 7. We completed this project in 2018, and it is still working.

It is a stable solution. It is wonderful for multi-user environments, and it supports different virtual machines and operating systems. You can go for any kind of virtual machine.

It has many features, especially for a call center. You don't have the issue of computers going down from time to time. You just need to copy the virtual machine to deploy it. You also don't need many people to maintain computers. With Horizon 7, you just need one or two people. 

It is a little bit complex. You need a little bit of experience with ESXi installation and VMware before using this solution. You cannot directly jump to this solution. It also requires training. After you get trained, you can do anything with Horizon 7.

In terms of features, it has been sufficient for my needs, but it can always have more features. They can maybe merge the servers. They can give the Horizon 7 server in one package with ESXi.

It is stable. We didn't have any issues.

If you are a small business, and you can easily grow from, let's say, 10 people to maybe 30 or 60 people. You can buy and scale based on your needs.

In terms of the number of users, we have four groups of operators who use this solution. Each group has six to seven users.

Their technical support is good. We faced an issue after deploying the product, and in less than 24 hours, we got a response from VMware. Everything was good.

You need to get trained and have a license to be able to deploy it.

We deployed it on our own. I take care of its maintenance.

Its cost is fair. You can go for a free trial, but for initializing a project, you need to purchase a license. There are different types of licenses.

You should know why you need this solution. Before working with Horizon 7, you should have at least three to six months of experience with VMware and ESXi. You also need to get well trained in Horizon 7. 

I would rate VMware Horizon 7 an eight out of ten. It is a stable and feature-rich solution at a fair price.

We use VMware Horizon to digitalize environments. 

The solution has a lot of issues and bugs. 

I have been working with the solution for two years. 

I would rate VMware Horizon's stability a six out of ten. 

I would rate the tool's scalability on the cloud a ten out of ten. 

We have issues with the product's response time. The person assigned to us was entry-level experienced and we had to escalate our issues further numerous times. 

Neutral

We sought help for some areas of deployment. 

VMware Horizon is priced high. 

I would rate the solution a six out of ten. 

The solution is used for remote access and copying.

The most valuable feature is that VMware Horizon is easy to setup.

The support can be improved because at present, there is some delay in responses even though they improved some Microsoft Team support. The system integration also needs some improvement.

I have been using the VMware Horizon for five years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is not easy to scale for large enterprises. 

VMware Horizon's support team is not well-equipped to provide answers or give details on how to fix the problems.

Neutral

The initial setup is easy. The solution's deployment takes one day and requires a maximum of five engineers. VMware is easy to maintain. 

The solution's pricing depends on certain factors. It would be best if you know which components you are looking for, as you may have other hardware costs. It is recommended if users want to use the VMware HPE as the hypervisor.

As we are in an enterprise environment, we may have many use cases. Compared to Citrus, they have a single industry token that supports many use cases. If we enable users and the portal, Horizon needs a collection of different authentication methods. It's quite competitive for users and complex for enterprises if they have many use cases.

I rate VMware Horizon a seven out of ten.

Horizon basically protects you're VMware and your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). BYOD connecting to your network and these can be secured using VMware Horizon.

With COVID there is a very big impact. There is a hybrid kind of workforce model now. People will be able to connect using their own devices. If it is BYOD case, the number of assets is going to increase. It will almost double the number of the secured assets out there. This means that as the asset size grows, there's a lot of traffic. If you talk about the Horizon it is Zero Trust Architecture plus Micro-segmentation. It has to level both into one platform.

You then need to physically test that your endpoints are all secured so that there is no way for somebody connecting from their own device or laptop to accessing the network with any kind of malicious code. You're protected.

The solution is quite stable. The performance is good.

The scalability has been very good. It's easy to expand it to more endpoints.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

The solution could be more secure. Horizon is a recent addition in the sense that, due to COVID, we're working from home and those off-network devices also have to get secured. It's not only on-premises and the cloud infrastructure anymore. Your connectivity from the endpoints from the employees who are logged in from home also has to get brought in.

The solution isn't quite mature yet. It needs more time to mature and to get more market recognition.

The solution needs to work on its pricing. Compared to VMware Workspace ONE it should not be more in terms of cost.

I've been using the solution for more than four years.

The solution is stable. It offers good performance. There aren't crashes and it doesn't freeze. there aren't bugs or glitches. It's been good overall.

The scalability is excellent. If you need to extend it to more endpoints, it's possible to do so, and it's not difficult in terms of a process. If a company needs to expand the offering, it can do so with ease.

We have a hybrid workforce, with 8,000 or so users who likely have both their work and home devices on the system.

We do plan to continue to use the product going forward. We have no plans to move away from it.

Our end-user support is our level end-user computing, EUC. EUC is a separate kind of support model, and there is dedicated support if we run into issues. So far, we have been satisfied with the level of support.

VMware worked with Workspace One, which has been upgraded into Horizon.

The initial setup is not overly complex. It's easy. It's a part of the VMware Workspace segment which makes it quite simple. A company should have no issues with the implementation.

Normally, the process from beginning to end only takes a couple of hours. It's a pretty quick process.

For maintenance, we have a team called EUC - End User Computing - that inspects all the upgrades and handles all the maintenance.

I handled the process of implementation myself. If did not need an outside consultant or integrator. We were able to manage everything in-house.

There is a good ROI.

We do have a licensing fee that we need to pay. Horizon is expensive if you were to consider EDR. I cannot speak to the exact cost of the product, however.

EDR itself is a big investment. If you're investing in EDR be prepared to pay a bit. There are two platforms that we are using - Windows and Linux. In the Windows platform, basically, we can secure it using the Windows Defender. In the case of Windows Defender, we don't need any separate EDR. For Linux, however, we need it. That said, mostly the users are all Windows users. More than 60% to 70% of the users are Windows users and so we don't need the EDR product across the board. That saves some costs for us.

I did evaluate multiple EDRs before choosing this solution.

We use the latest version of the solution at this time. It's the most up-to-date option.

From the COVID impact, the number of vulnerabilities has gone up. That means there are other challenges of coping with the security in recent times due to the deluge of more assets, basically, made on one level because people are bringing their own devices into the mix. So far, we've been able to secure everything, and we've been able to stand back and say that we're fine and, even with this new hybrid work model, we are secure and back to normal, so to speak.

The solution is a recent edition that is not been fully adopted and it is still slightly immature. It's not reached a stage where it is saturated. For that reason, I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.  

I would recommend the solution.