VMware Horizon Reviews

The use cases mainly depend on our client's needs and requirements. One of the reasons is the high cost of hardware and associated maintenance and time it requires. When you have 300-600 systems, managing maintenance tickets and replacements becomes a significant challenge.

With a stable VDI in place, clients/end users experience fewer issues. A large number of users can easily have required changes in configurations across the entire stack on the back end without disruption to their work. VMware Horizon offers additional features in VDI that are not possible with localized systems or laptops. We are currently utilizing it partly with labs involving DNA analysis and with various forensic tools. However, its primary use case is for office environments.

It gives you better control and management options for adjusting performance requirements and securing the environment.

The use of VMware Workspace ONE with Horizon is quite impressive. VMware Horizon availability on both the cloud and on-prem and its flexible licensing options are worth noting. 

In addition, combined with ThinApp it offers efficiency and stability for the system, which is not always available in alternate solutions.

Speaking from my perspective, I think they could work on reducing the cost. There is room for improvement in the pricing model. 

I would like to see improvement in the license cost and the availability of perpetual licensing for Horizon. The solution offers a Term and subscription license.

We started setting up VMware VDI solutions many years ago, but the most recent deployment was completed in March 2023. The latest installation is of Horizon 8 and it's been a month since it was deployed.

It is stable. However, when shifting from a laptop or desktop environment, there are certain expectations that need to be set correctly. For example, users in some lab environments or universities have a habit of shutting down systems at day's end. It can be inconvenient and it either needs to be disabled or the VMs need to be restarted. These challenges can be addressed within a couple of weeks, and then everything becomes stable. So, stability improves over time with proper configuration and SOPs and as users grow accustomed to new environments.

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

It is highly scalable. The architecture allows POD architecture/design, accommodating anywhere from 300 to 20,000 end devices/sessions. The scalability depends on the specific needs and the capabilities of the network infrastructure.

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

From a technical standpoint, VMware Horizon is quite reliable and stable when compared to other products. It certainly has an edge in terms of stability.

The installation can be either simple or complex, depending on your desired configuration and the type of integrations you need with active directories and shares. There are plenty of options available. 

If you want a basic setup, it can be easily configured. However, you should have a good understanding of how the product needs to be set up. It's not overly simple, but it's not overly difficult either. The documentation is very comprehensive and helpful. As long as you have knowledge of the product and its components, such as the Connection Server and the licensing features, you can successfully configure it. Some training and support may be required.

If you have the necessary training, it will be easier to handle the deployment process.

The deployment time depends on factors such as the number of applications, templates, clients, and desired features. Generally, you can deploy it within two to three days and start working. We have two engineers for the deployment.

The same two engineers handle the maintenance as well.

VMware Horizon has subscription-based TERM licenses with many flexible options. I would really consider it to be of great value if VMware starts to offer perpetual licensing which used to be available.

We work with Several Virtualization Technologies and HCI systems including VMware vSphere, Oracle OVM, IBM PowerVM, Sangfor, Huawei FusionSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and H3C Workspace/VirtualDesktop. Nevertheless for VDI, our primary choice has been VMware Horizon to date.

If you have large contact center users or significant office users, and you are looking for a long-term ROI over a period of ten years or more, VMware VDI would be a suitable choice.

VMware Horizon 7 is used for remote access to allow the users to work from home.

The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is its ease of use.

VMware Horizon 7 could improve by supporting the active-active data center. At this time we are only deploying it in the production environment. Our customer is considered to deploy the VMware Horizon 7 to a secondary data center, but we found out that it cannot fully support the user in the deployment in the active-active data center. Any improvement on this would be beneficial.

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

VMware Horizon 7 could improve stability.

The scalability of VMware Horizon 7 is very good. We have 100 users using this solution in my organization.

We typically open up the support page in VMware Horizon 7 for help. I did not find it very helpful but they tried their best.

We previously used Citrix before we chose VMware Horizon 7. The pricing of Citrix was better.

The initial setup of VMware Horizon 7 depends but for most it is easy. It took us one month.

We used a consultant to implement this solution.

The price of VMware Horizon 7 is more than some other solutions.

I rate VMware Horizon 7 a five out of ten.

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.

Our current use of the solution involves the two specific projects in Arreaspace Kiasat, which involves catering to both the needs of the client and the server's functionalities with a Linux based approach.

The most valuable feature in this solution which really helped for my use case was the stand out three dimensional acceleration. It was really important for enhancing the performance for certain clients based on their scenarios.

We have used VMware Horizon since 2021.

The stability is also reliable and the solution gives a very constant performance with a rating of 8 out of 10.

In our case, the scalability is average as it serves its purpose effectively but only caters to the needs of 100 clients only, so I will rate it 5 out of 10. Horizon is best suited for enterprise level companies especially considering the benefits in terms of pricing as VMware is now under Broadcom's ownership.

I am incapable of providing direct feedback on the tech support of VMware as we have channelized our support to the first line through Fujitsu, our OEM.

Compared to competitors, Horizon outperforms Citrix in recent years due to Citrix facing security issues. As an alternative, when cost is a concern, we occasionally turn to the open-source solution Waccamola, although it lacks the extensive functionalities of Horizon.

Pricing for Horizon is relatively high, earning a rating of one out of ten.

Overall, the solution itself deserves a solid seven to eight rating out of 10.

In VDI, the primary benefit is providing users with a better environment than their endpoint machine by hosting their virtual machines in the server environment, improving performance. However, application virtualization becomes more appealing if specific resource requirements exist for the endpoint. Multiple users can benefit by using dedicated GPU resources, saving resources compared to individual dedications in VDI setups. VMware resources can be efficiently shared among various users in application virtualization, offering significant advantages over traditional VDI implementations.

VMware offers a friendly environment, and it's easy to provide the user with the package. It is a bundled solution that is readily deployable. The advantage lies in its simplicity, it requires minimal expertise. There are instances where Microsoft RDP outperforms due to its integration with the backend operating system. Yet, deploying and managing a Microsoft environment necessitates a specific skill set, typically that of a knowledgeable system administrator. 

On the other hand, Horizon offers a more user-friendly experience; you can quickly deploy applications, access simple documents, and navigate without needing specialized expertise. Additionally, comprehensive support and documentation are readily available to aid in setting up the Horizon environment.

The primary concern lies with licensing. There’s confusion regarding licensing terms following the new management’s takeover. Consequently, our resellers and distributors are confused. The SKUs have been altered. We had planned to include budgetary prices in our upcoming budget, which ends in June. However, during the budget repricing process, the resellers faced difficulties due to their inability to obtain responses regarding the budgetary code. The SKUs have changed due to the transition from one principal to another. 

I have been using VMware Horizon for two to three months.

There has been no downtime in the last four months. Some administrative complexities exist, but they were resolved after learning from the documentation.

The solution’s scalability is good. We require hardware that can scale accordingly. We are beginning with 50 users and scaling out over the next two years.

The initial setup takes a couple of hours, maximum. Everything requires a little knowledge. When it comes to deploying VMware Horizon, some understanding is necessary. Initially, I was confused about which documentation tool to use. I studied by myself and found the documentation provided very good and clear. Then, I deployed it.

When I found the documentation, learning and deploying VMware Horizon took a couple of days.

Initially, I had to test VMware vSphere, configure a Windows Virtual Machine and deploy the Horizon server. After that, we connected, integrated, and tested vSphere and vCenter with Horizon.

I have one vSphere server installed. On that server, I have configured virtual machines for application publication. Additionally, I have two Windows 10 virtual machines for endpoints, which will be provided to the end users. They will log in to the Windows 10 virtual machine, where the published applications will be installed. Initially, we'll start with three users at a time.

According to the technical documentation, they are apparent and easily accessible.

From one point of view, VMware Horizon uses virtualization configurations deployed on Microsoft servers, necessitating compliance with Microsoft's rules. It relies on Microsoft RDP services in the background. One beneficial feature is publishing applications installed on a Windows 10 machine.

You should check whether they aim to provide a VDI environment, and then the VDI option is best. However, GPU usage becomes crucial if they intend to centralize application solutions to conserve server resources. If assigned to a single-user PC, GPUs are hardware resources that might need to be more utilized when the user is not actively using them. Therefore, the optimal approach would be to install all the applications on a server, allocate the necessary hardware resources, and then share them using application virtualization.

There are only two or three products that meet this requirement. It is a very reliable and stable product. On the contrary, there is Microsoft Remote Desktop. These two are the best, both in terms of reliability and finding documentation.

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

I work in a public school where some teachers and staff work from home. We use the product in the home office. 

I like the tool's security. It is also easier to roll out the software updates. 

I like VMware Horizon's ability and performance. 

VMware Horizon needs to integrate with Azure, Teams, and Zoom. 

I have been using the product for five years. 

I rate VMware Horizon's stability an eight out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a nine out of ten. My company has over 150 users. 

We contact our partner for first-level support. 

I rate the tool's deployment a nine out of ten. It can be completed in a few hours. 

VMware Horizon is expensive. It should provide a special price for more user licenses. 

I rate VMware Horizon a nine out of ten. 

We use it to gain access to our organization's applications.

One of the most valuable aspects is that I can connect from home, and the system operates seamlessly. It offers great flexibility, allowing us to access it as a complete virtual machine or even just as individual applications.

There is room for a more cost-effective pricing structure, as it could be more affordable.

I have been using it for approximately four years.

I would rate the stability capabilities eight out of ten.

I would rates its scalability abilities eight out of ten.

Whenever we submit a ticket, there is a productive exchange of information, and more often than not, they manage to address our needs effectively. While there may be occasional challenges, the support is generally quite reliable. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

We use a combination of Citrix, Horizon, and Microsoft for virtual apps and desktops based on specific requirements and customer needs.

The initial setup was straightforward.

The deployment was managed by our team, and I handled the installation. The client only had to perform the minimal configuration, such as setting the server's IP. It was highly adaptable and user-friendly, and it took approximately a couple of days.

We observed a return on investment in data protection, resulting in a time savings of around twenty five percent.

It falls on the more expensive end in terms of cost.

You can consider using Microsoft Remote Desktop sessions, which provide a more basic set of features if you don't require all the advanced features offered by Horizon, such as speed optimization, visual enhancements, desktop printing, image resolution, and a seamless user experience. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

It is a method of providing a user with access to centralized resources in the form of either a full desktop session or a hosted application, whether it is Windows or Linux.

Horizon is known for its simplicity, security and flexibility in its deployment. It allows for simplified management, advanced user configuration and apllication deployment, all at speed and at scale.

The most valuable feature of this solution is secure remote access to resources.

A simple way to load-balance components has been missing for several years. Because VMware Horizon lacks a load-balancing component, you must always use a third-party solution. VMware recommends that since you have VMware vSphere underneath, you run NSX to get your load balancer from there. However, not every customer can afford to run NSX.

A simple way, particularly for smaller environments, would be to have load balance connection servers and unified access gateways would be extremely beneficial.

The backlog of the development team is extensive. We know the load-balancing is in the roadmap somewhere but it's unknown when it will get addressed.

I would like to see simple load-balancing for smaller environments that lack large solutions like F5, or NSX; it should be redundant or unavailable but in a simple way.

Perhaps limited to only two components; if more are required, a paid load balancing solution can be used.

Load balancing for simple environments, or simple redundancy, is sorely lacking.

I have been working with VMware Horizon for approximately eleven years.

The first one I sold was version four.

We are working with version eight, and our customers run version seven and some are already on version eight. 

Version seven is already out of support.

The most recent version is 8.11, but they no longer use that numbering; it is now 2312. The new numbering reflects the month and year of release.

The stability of VMware Horizon is incredible for both Horizon version seven and version eight.

The only reason the basic component connection server failed was that there was something broken underneath, either storage or compute. Horizon itself rarely has any issues.

At present, VMware Horizon scales up to 250,000 concurrent sessions.

In my opinion, VMware Horizon is a very scalable product. The most prominent companies in the world use it. Some require it to scale to that level, which is why it is capable of doing so.

I would rate the technical support a three and a half out of five. 

It has become a very large organization with many procedures and layers. It usually takes a long time to get to the right person who can actually solve your problem, if you get there at all.

I was better in the past, but it was also smaller, and that would have made it easier.

The response times are not an issue, but you must go through a couple of layers, especially if you have a more complicated problem, to get the right person involved. It takes time.

The future with KKR is uncertain, due to the fact that EUC has now split up and has left VMware/Broadcom. It could be very positive, as it will now be a focused group that only supports the EUC stack.

It can be deployed in your private cloud, a public cloud, or a hybrid of the two. 

VMware Horizon only has one license, which is a license to run desktops. They don't care if you run them on Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba, your own Data Center, or a combination of those.

There is a cloud platform included to be able to govern it, the Horizon Cloud Console.

The initial setup is dependent on what you compare it to. 

When referring to an on-premises installation, the infrastructure isn't that complex; otherwise, it's just the cloud, which is a service that you use, and that is not necessarily complex.

On-premises you have some components, and there is some designing involved, especially if the environment is medium to large.

The complexity is in your data, and your applications, not in VMware Horizon.

A PoC is set up in a couple of days.

The basic environment depends on the organization; for example, a complete infrastructure for a large company can take two weeks to set up. You are dealing with a lot of integration with other components, and setting up load balancers and certificates.

It is worth the investment. We have customer success stories about how great VMware Horizon is as a product and how it has solved problems for them.

One of the things I try to do as an architect is to give or provide the customer with a solution that actually fits.

There are numerous methods for delivering a digital workplace to you; it does not have to be a virtual desktop; there are other options.

I am aware of the license models, but not the prices. There are multiple licensing options, please refer to Understanding Horizon Licenses (87490) (vmware.com) for more information.

Our company became a VMware partner because they already had Airwatch as a very large product, and VMware purchased Airwatch.

We then did some Digital Workspace and complimented it with Horizon. We do infrastructure as well as network virtualization.

I would advise using a trial first. You can use a free trial version for 60 days for almost every VMware product that is available. Register for a trial, download the bits and you are ready to go. For two months you can spend some quality time to see if the solution is what you need.

There are also the VMware hands-on labs that VMware provides. 

VMware provides live labs that you can use. They are built on request just by clicking a button and one minute later you have an environment that you want to get acquainted with.

It allows you to open the console, change the configuration and do whatever you want, and when you are done, the lab gets destroyed and rebuilt for another person free of charge.

It's a friendly way to get to know a product and to get acquainted with the look and feel to see if it is something that would fit with your environment. Then you could try a trial in your environment.

I would rate VMware Horizon an eight out of ten. 

It is a complete product.

It is fully mature, easy to manage, and it is easy to design if you know what you are doing. 

It is stable and there are new features that come from the new release twice a year.