Horizon 8 Reviews

I have experience with products from Horizon 8, and I am currently working with Omniser version. I have been working with Horizon 8 from Omniser for nearly two years now. I am currently working in a company called Softcat in the UK, which is one of the value add service resellers. We help different vendors like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and have partnerships with software providers including Omniser, with many customers approaching us to say they need a tech refresh or expressing specific business requirements. My title is solution architect, and I assist them to size their needs and improve their existing environments. I have been in this sphere with Omniser for nearly two years now through my work at Softcat.

I confirm that we utilize the Just-in-Time Management platform technology with Horizon 8 through our interactions with the Omniser partner team, which provides us updates on technology and product features, including insights on roadmaps and new developments.

When assessing the impact of advanced analytics and monitoring tools in Horizon 8 on overall organizational performance, I find that if the management tools are well-integrated, they are claimed to be easy to use. However, implementing more AI features, such as automation and optimization via platforms like Ansible or Terraform, would enhance operational efficiency significantly.

From my perspective, there is significant room for improvement in Horizon 8. Many customers are actively seeking alternatives to VMware due to recent licensing changes after Broadcom's acquisition, necessitating upgrades or bundles that they often do not require. Given that Omniser builds on VMware technologies, this creates a negative perception, pushing customers to consider different brands or solutions.

I have used Horizon 8 for nearly two years based on my experience with Softcat.

In terms of features, while there is a negative impact from Broadcom and VMware's branding, Horizon 8 still presents several strong features. Customers have indeed reported stability issues with other products like Citrix, which can lead to intermittent performance problems. When they switched to Omniser, these issues disappeared, leading them to choose it over cheaper and seemingly easier options.

The overall deployment process for Horizon 8 can be complex, with challenges like uncertainty and management difficulties arising. For instance, if a customer has a smaller environment, managing less than fifty to one hundred users can be done one by one, but larger clients often face complications when merging multiple silos of infrastructure across locations, which necessitates solutions from Omniser or other service providers. A key challenge for these customers is finding an easier solution with single management that alleviates these complexities.

Regarding Omniser's technical support, I rarely contact them myself, as I am not on the customer side, but I do not hear negative feedback from customers about their support. They generally express more concerns regarding other vendors. Based on my experience and feedback from customers, I would rate Omniser's technical support an eight.

In my current role, the deployment of Horizon 8 is handled by a separate team. Softcat has an in-house team of professionals and access to providers like Omniser, which occasionally provides their own professional service for stage one implementations, training, and simulations. However, I do not actively get involved in the actual implementations; instead, I need to understand the infrastructure to give instructions and work closely with the team to ensure everything is in place.

Based on my nearly two years of experience with Softcat, my involvement in the deployment process usually involves less than five people.

The deployment model my customers mostly choose for Horizon 8 is on-premises, as many have experience with colocation, meaning they purchase the hardware or request it from their colocation provider, like Equinix or other data center providers, to build and manage the hardware. In such scenarios, the service provider will provide the infrastructure as a service, while customers implement things on top, like the operating system, setting up Omniser, and managing their end user profiling. I would rate this solution an eight overall.

My customers most likely use Horizon 8 for remote desktop, which means making sure that people can access system resources from anywhere on a secure platform, even from a non-secure, or non-company device.

What I appreciate about Horizon 8 is that it just works. If it works, it just works. People can access the desktop from anywhere, whether it is a desktop or published applications, and it's easy to manage from a maintenance perspective. As IT consultants, it's very easy for users, who can access it by the web, using cloud, or any platform such as an Apple or Windows machine. It even works on systems that usually play Minecraft or something, all from Google security.

From a security point of view, security in Horizon 8 is one of the main points in keeping the system resources from the company away from bad actors. You can keep the desktops completely isolated, and you don't need to share your file shares or database with the end-user system. You can even provide users with thin clients, and they can still access all information on the company network. You can choose if special resources, such as USB drives, are allowed to be shared. From a security standpoint, VMware really helps many mid-range companies achieve a security standard that otherwise would be hard to maintain.

The Horizon 8 brings some resource saving, but the costs are higher than simply giving users a normal laptop. However, providing a single user with a laptop means managing that particular system. With Horizon 8, I can manage a whole group of desktops for about 90% of my end users at the same time, on the same management console, and this makes it easier to handle multiple issues at once. It is also more cost-effective when certain systems need upgrades, as you do not have to trouble end users with local system issues, which helps reduce help desk load and customer tickets. This is especially crucial for users working remotely, such as during the pandemic, as it allows for scaling up and down easily to meet user demands.

From the analytical aspects, we used Horizon 8 Advanced Analytics and most companies switched to another product to gain insights because the insight is not as helpful as other products that are built for it.

What was missing in Horizon 8 to make it a better tool was in analytics, specifically getting the right information and the drill-down process to find out where the problem is. If a user has an issue, it is crucial to determine what the issue is that the user is having and since when they have the issue. For example, if a user reports back that they had an issue yesterday evening, getting that information and ensuring that you have it was hard to find, especially to pinpoint if the issue lies with the network or the Horizon 8 platform.

We utilized the multi-factor authentication, conditional access in Horizon 8, but we are not satisfied with that. It lacks some integration options that make it easy to run with Microsoft Entra, for example, and authenticate using your regular authenticator besides just getting a pop-up that says, 'I'm the one that's trying to log on.' Nowadays, there are many more complex authentication methods, but even a basic confirmation with a number to verify that you are the person connecting is not supported.

I would like to see improvements in Horizon 8, specifically integration with NVIDIA for graphical performance upgrades because it creates many issues such as crashing and black screen systems, causing users to lose access to their current desktop and work. This is a real issue at the moment for many customers worldwide.

I have been working with Horizon 8 for about 10 years.

From a performance point of view, we do have stability and reliability issues with Horizon 8. Especially with the integration of NVIDIA, we experience multiple problems including crashing applications, crashing desktops, spontaneous logoffs, black screens, and systems that no longer respond or cannot reconnect. This has been an ongoing issue for two to three years, and they are still searching for a resolution, often just recommending to 'upgrade everything to the latest version,' which we have done multiple times but without fully resolving the issues. While performance is nice if it is running, it is important to scale correctly, and the solution remains flexible enough to adjust resources for power users.

My thoughts on the technical support of Horizon 8 are that it is good and available, but because it is a complex product, resolving issues is often complicated. Support can involve hardware, storage, or specific components such as NVIDIA and many things that may contribute to issues, but generally speaking, the support team is helpful and offers assistance, even though it typically results in long-term fixes rather than immediate solutions.

Positive

The initial setup of Horizon 8 needs many steps to ensure that you have good hardware and a lot of prerequisites to start getting a proper configuration. The documentation on the installation and how to do it is pretty good, but there are many configurations to optimize that require a significant amount of time to resolve some annoying points.

Regarding the pricing aspect of Horizon 8, I find it currently quite acceptable. After VMware was bought by Broadcom, the pricing was ridiculous, but now that Onmises has VMware Horizon 8, the pricing is back to an acceptable level. It is not cheap, but it is a solution that is not intended for small companies or setups, so I believe the pricing is reasonable.

The main differences between Horizon 8 and other VDI products on the market, such as Citrix or Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop, is that all platforms have their issues and prerequisites, and you need to choose the one that fits your needs best. In a Microsoft cloud, AVD makes sense for more desktops, whereas Citrix and VMware are beneficial in an on-premise environment with local servers and interconnected services. Many customers utilize multiple products to meet their specific needs; thus, product choice remains essential.

I have not worked with the Just-in-Time Management Platform within Horizon 8.

I have not worked with the Intelligent Integrated Workspace in Horizon 8.

At the moment, there are no specific features missing in Horizon 8 that I would like to see included. It currently fits its specific niche, and while everyone is shifting to modern workplaces, I think that the current system does what I expect from it and what customers expect from it.

I rate Horizon 8 eight out of ten.

Our customer uses the advanced licensing for Horizon 8. We don't have many native monitoring tools, just what is provided in Horizon 8 itself. We use Zabbix and similar tools, but nothing from Workspace features or Omnissa monitoring features because these cost additional money, and the customer doesn't use them.

We use Instant Clones. We used Composers previously, but currently, for profiles management, it's User Profile Management and UAG (Unified Access Gateway) for remote connections.

Infrastructure is what we are working with, so just virtualizations, not covering networking or Kubernetes. HP Morpheus VM Essential is in that area.

VMware business is currently on hold. It's similar to what we have or what our customers have. Sometimes we use vCenter.

We use simple products such as virtualization platform ESX and vCenter. We don't use deep integrations such as VCF package or cloud components.

We have improved our organization through virtualization and desktop management capabilities.

We have several customers using NSX, but it's not directly my responsibility. As a certified VMware engineer, I understand the technology, but I'm not working extensively with it because it's not my direct responsibility.

From VMware, we use ESX as a hypervisor, vCenter, and Aria sometimes. We use VMware Omnissa product. We have one large customer with more than 2,000 VDI users who are using Omnissa Horizon 8.

Centralized management of desktops is one of the main reasons customers choose this solution. The requirements for Horizon 8 primarily revolve around simplicity in managing thousands of desktops.

For Horizon 8, it would be beneficial to integrate more monitoring capabilities in advanced editions. I understand help desk is integrated, but it's only available in enterprise versions. This could be an area for improvement.

The support team needs improvement as cases are sometimes solved very slowly.

I have been working with Horizon 8 for approximately 15 years.

My rating for stability would be eight out of ten. It is adequate for our needs. We can scale by adding additional servers and connection servers.

The scalability is satisfactory for our needs.

In general, I am satisfied with the quality, but response time takes a long time. The main areas needing improvement are response speed and quality of answers.

Neutral

The setup process for Horizon 8 is not complex. It requires a couple of servers, approximately 20 servers, and storage. We don't use any shareable storage. Some additional features for profiles management are needed, but overall, it is not complicated.

Citrix remains in the market though I have lost focus on their offerings. Microsoft has something similar, potentially Azure. From other vendors, there is Hyper-V, and HP VM Essentials is gaining prominence.

I am working with VSX.

Our customers have not experienced security breaches. For remote connections, we use UAG (Unified Access Gateway). Our customers implement multi-factor authentication for security.

My company is a partner with Omnissa, and we provide solutions to our clients. We work through the distribution channel.

We are just beginning to explore HP via Morpheus solutions, but currently HP is not ready for deep production integration. It is mainly used in testing and proof of concept environments.

Blue Bridge MSP will be our new name, and we are a partner with Omnissa. I prefer to remain anonymous.

I rate Horizon 8 nine out of ten.

I would like to see more comprehensive monitoring in the future for Horizon 8, and making the Instant Clone part easier and simplified, even from a documentation perspective, is another improvement area. There is considerable scope for improvement in these areas.

I have been using Horizon for two years. It provides my DevOps team access to PAM and server through the provider.

The solution has helped ensure data leaks do not occur from the base machine to VDI, and it saves data through API copyright.

The solution has data leak prevention features that ensure data is not copied from the base machine to VDI, and API copyright capabilities.

We have limited capabilities since we are not using a multi-instance solution, just single instances. The solution underutilizes its capabilities.

I have been using Horizon for the past two years.

Our management is working on ensuring more stability, though the current focus is not on Horizon.

We are using basic features with limited capabilities, and we wish for more scalability.

Our support from VMware expired last December, and we currently rely on a local team for support.

Neutral

We also use Workspace ONE and Jamf for different purposes.

The initial setup is done locally, taking a couple of weeks.

The solution is managed by a local team, which we find beneficial.

Our management is working on enhancing stability and ROI, though interest has waned.

I rate the cost-effectiveness of GenApp of Citrix equal to our CMS; it is quite cost-effective.

We evaluated ZenApp, Zen Desktop, GenApp, and Citrix.

Citrix, for the cost-effective feature, is better.

I'd rate the solution five out of ten.

We use the solution to provide VDI to our partners. They connect to the VDI and consume our on-premise resources.

The product helps us to lock down the desktops. We can stop the end user from taking data out of the desktops. These are the key security features of the tool.

Though VMware is supposed to be software as a service, the actual infrastructure sits in the client's data center rather than VMware Cloud. It doesn't really make sense. We should have the front-end services sitting in Azure and not on-premise or the private cloud. The vendor must move the infrastructure into the public cloud.

I have been using the solution for about a year.

We have more than 20,000 users. We maintain the tool regularly. We have 30 people in our technical team.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. The deployment is much more complicated than Citrix. The deployment took more than two to three days. A lot of it was sitting in the customer’s data center. It was not a complete SaaS solution. We needed to do a few workarounds, but we had to get VMware to assist us.

We have a team of 30 engineers. We deploy the tool ourselves.

The product is extremely expensive. It is much more expensive than Citrix. I rate the pricing one out of ten.

I have worked with Citrix. Citrix is much more convenient and easier to deploy.

I am looking at Workspace ONE Intelligent, the monitoring tool. I am looking at a few of the automation features from a monitoring perspective. It helps us remediate certain issues a bit. The tool is way below average compared to Citrix from an administration perspective. I will recommend Citrix over VMware Horizon. Overall, I rate the product a five out of ten.

I use the solution in my company for the area of VDI, consisting of multiple applications and allowing users the flexibility to use the applications on mobile devices.

The storage expansion in the product is a bit difficult to manage, especially when I have to modify a storage requirement of a particular area since it comes across as a complex job. I would like the tool to improve the licensing and cost model. The tool does not offer much support if, in a factory, there are other terminal clients or third-party clients. If we have to integrate it with such plants, it is difficult because there is no interoperability feature in the product.

I have been using VMware Horizon View for six years. I use the solution's latest version.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

The solution's technical support is very good, but at times, it is complicated to decide whom to reach out to from the tool's technical team. I rate the technical support as a seven out of ten.

Neutral

I have experience with Rockwell Automation and ThinManager. My company started to use VMware Horizon View to streamline certain processes since we had VMware vSAN and VMware vSphere in our company's environment.

Initially, the product is a bit complex to deal with when it comes to the installation part, especially for people who do not have any experience in deploying products without extra or additional support. After the initial hurdles with the installation phase, the process becomes relatively easy.

The product can be deployed in two days.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Cost-saving benefits from the use of the product are possible in the area of hardware costs. My company only has to incur some zero client costs. My company also doesn't have to buy dedicated workstations for similar applications, as we can deploy virtual machines to run our applications. My company just buys zero clients at a very nominal cost and connects them to the terminal servers.

I rate the product cost a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price. I haven't seen any additional payments being made apart from the licensing cause attached to the product.

The product supports remote work scenarios in our company, considering that we have different factory infrastructure devices, such as the remote operators in different areas of the plant, where it is used to access centralized applications from multiple types of devices, such as tablets, remote PCs, etc.

The product facilitates virtual desktop management and deployment, which allows for centralized management. The tool allows our company to deploy multiple instances from one central repository simply. Security patches are much easier to deploy. The scalability part is also one of the advantages offered by the solution.

The patch management is much easier, and access control of different devices is good in VMware Horizon View.

The scalability or flexibility feature of VMware Horizon View enhances our company's IT operations by allowing us to use all the different security areas in the plant to be deployed and used in a few simple clicks. For production areas and warehousing zones, my company has created separate rules, after which we simply deploy from the central management and create clones of similar applications that are already designed during the first instance.

I rate the user experience in terms of speed and reliability an eight out of ten.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

I use the solution for application delivery and data security for external people.

The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon is the VDI service, which helps externals use their own devices while keeping the data inside our data center.

The solution should provide easy configuration.

I have been using VMware Horizon for around one and a half years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Since the solution is on-premises and we are moving to the cloud, scaling down is very easy. On the other hand, if we would deploy a lot of new VIs, it would be very easy to just add them. VMware Horizon is very flexible when scaling up and scaling down. Around 2,200 users in our organization use VMware Horizon to deploy the main applications.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The solution's technical support is very good. When we face issues with VMware Horizon, the support team creates patches in less than three weeks. If there are issues, the support team is very involved in finding out what's happening and solving the issue.

Positive

We previously used Citrix. We switched to VMware Horizon because Citrix was not as flexible as VMware Horizon was for us. The supplier that won the contract was in favor of using VMware. So, VMware Horizon came with the supplier we selected.

Delivering legacy applications and overall stability was challenging while setting up the solution.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a five out of ten.

The solution's actual deployment before we got into the pilot phase took about six months. The solution's deployment process included design, implementation, testing, and distribution to the end user. We had five people, including two from the supplier and about three internal people, to deploy the solution.

We needed to keep our legacy applications running because the business is reliant on them. If the applications stop, the business stops. In that case, we had no choice but to choose a technology like VMware Horizon.

We paid a lot of money for software that is not really fully operational out of the box. We had to have patches from VMware to get it into production. Hence, we lost a lot of time implementing the solution. We have a three-year contract, for which we pay about ten euros per user per month.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten.

I am using the latest version of VMware Horizon. I think one person from the supplier does the maintenance for VMware Horizon. We can implement our zero-trust strategy using VMware Horizon. It's a big part of our zero-trust solution. So, external people only have access to Horizon instead of having direct access to our company data with their devices.

Users should make a good comparison between cloud solutions Azure VDI and VMware Horizon, especially now that the company has been sold to a private investor.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

I often use the solution for remote day-to-day work to bring in consultants. We use the Gateway feature, which is a form of security server. We have one port to connect things. It simplifies things.

We do not have to order new laptops or workstations when we bring in new consultants and new hires. The solution simplifies our work. The new hires can start working from day one. The IT team doesn’t have to do all the installations. It’s easier and simpler.

The App Volumes feature is valuable for application automation. We can use what we want inside the solution. VMware has its own troubleshooting tool. We can also use VMware Aria. We can use a lot of applications.

The solution must be faster and smoother.

I have been using the solution since 2003.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight or nine out of ten. It is stable, but it has Microsoft desktops on top of it.

The scalability of the tool provides the ease of adding another connection server or gateway server to ramp up the usage for more users. There can be tens of thousands of users on one server. The tool is very scalable. I rate the product’s scalability a ten out of ten. Our clients are small, medium, and large businesses. Some clients have 10 to 15 desktops. Others have hundreds and thousands. The biggest deployment I have done is of 150,000 desktops. The product is suitable for all sizes of businesses.

The setup is easy for me because I have been working with the product for 20 years. I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. For others, the ease of setup might be a five or six out of ten because we must know what we are doing. The time taken for deployment depends on the complexity of the installation. If we just want plain desktops, I can have the infrastructure up in one week. The deployment usually takes a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

The pricing could be improved. The tool is not cheap, but it is not too expensive. I rate the pricing a five out of ten. We get what we pay for.

We are implementers. I will recommend the solution to others. It's a pretty good solution. If our device crashes, it might take up to a week or even more before it is up. With VMware Horizon View, connecting online simplifies the work. It is more cost-effective for companies. Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.

The most valuable features of VMware Horizon in our education organization are its Graphics Virtualization Unit (GVU) integration. It helps us with social software for behavioral assignments and research purposes. Its availability is also one of the crucial features.

They could incorporate an application library for application learning and licensing. This feature could centralize all software applications within a licensed manager, allowing for efficient categorization and accessibility based on categories. They should improve similar functionality in VDI. It would enable users to access applications directly from their local machines without navigating to the VDI machine.

We have been using VMware Horizon for the last four or three years. At present, we use the version 7.

The product is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

We have deployed VMware Horizon on 700 machines. However, the costs are expensive. I rate the scalability a seven out of ten.

The technical support services are good. However, we encounter some delays in their responses.

The initial setup is straightforward. We receive good support services for implementation. It takes approximately six months, starting with hardware delivery, including racks, computing units, storage, and switches. The installation involved configuring software, licensing, and addressing aspects like JBOD configurations. It requires one system administrator for maintenance. I rate the process an eight out of ten.

VMware Horizon generates a good return on investment. I rate it a six out of ten.

VMware Horizon has significantly improved our IT management by ensuring the constant availability of our virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) 24/7. The availability has been most valuable in supporting our students and faculty, allowing them to access the virtual environment anytime and from anywhere. With nearly 11 to 1000 VMs deployed, the system's reliability enables us to efficiently meet the diverse computing needs of students, faculty, and even other departments, including the admission department, which can utilize the system during weekends and holidays.

The centralization of VDI allows us to manage all the machines through one portal. We can also add a new portal, secure it, and check logs.

The app publishing feature has impacted our productivity with diverse services in use, including research with the GVU. The accessibility can be extended to weekends and holidays, allowing users to continue their work independently and reducing dependence on the service desk or IT support team.

In comparing the user experience between VMware Horizon and physical desktops, our end users generally find it satisfactory. However, there is a high cost associated with custom GVU. Users emphasize the need for transparent consideration of the applications they plan to use within the VDI, particularly those reliant on GVU capabilities. Some users suggest exploring cloud-based solutions for cost savings, such as hardware expenses. The scalability in the cloud has been easier than on-premises setups.

I rate the product a seven out of ten.