VMware unveils its updated anywhere workspace capabilities to lower IT burden

VMware will announce new capabilities across its Anywhere Workspace platform to help further ease this management burden for IT teams and improve their productivity with automation. VMware Anywhere Workspace enables hybrid work using Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), VDI and DaaS, Digital Employee Experience (DEX), and Workspace Security. As we know IT teams are dealing with a new set of challenges in today’s hybrid work environment. Employees use more devices, access more applications across more clouds, and work from more locations than ever. Today,

At VMware Explore 2022US, VMware outlined its vision for “autonomous workspaces” – the next evolution of managing digital workspaces, one that injects data science and automation across endpoint management, security and end-user experiences. Today’s updates to VMware Anywhere Workspace — which span digital employee experience management, IT orchestration, and VMware Horizon Cloud — advance the capabilities needed to deliver on that vision. The latest enhancements to VMware Anywhere Workspace further incorporate intelligence and automation into every step of the process to simplify IT operations and enable a more secure and flexible digital employee experience.

“Organizations are searching for a balance in the hybrid work model that enables successful remote work while preserving a creative culture that fosters innovation,” said Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “To develop a successful hybrid working model, organizations need to automate how they deliver, manage and better secure hybrid workstyles. The enhancements we are announcing today to VMware Anywhere Workspace bring us one step closer to VMware’s vision of delivering autonomous workspaces.”

DEX Solution Expanded to Support 3^rd Party Managed Windows Devices

Digital Employee Experience (DEX) capabilities have become a priority for organizations as they look to maintain employee engagement in a hybrid work environment. A recently commissioned Forrester Consulting study notes that enabling a superior employee experience requires four key components – experience measurement, analysis, experience delivery and remediation.

VMware will broaden the coverage of its DEX solution to support Digital Employee Experience Management (DEEM) for third-party managed Windows devices. With this update, VMware will offer the industry’s most holistic DEX solution spanning delivery, measurement, analysis, and remediation by now supporting multiple endpoint use cases and operating systems. With VMware’s DEX solution in place, organizations can seamlessly manage the digital workspace experience for multiple endpoints and ease the transition to modern management by communicating with all employees and saving IT time and money.

“Businesses must adapt to next-generation hybrid working environments, and we’ve seen a great deal of innovation sparked by this pivot. We value VMware as an innovation partner to help build and define the Orange Workplace Together offering,” said Bob Smart, senior solutions expert, OBS. “Our managed service also enables a natural language, voice-based interface that directly integrates with Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub. Its development is a great example of working alongside the teams from VMware to improve employee experience, showing how we can leverage AI technology to support the new hybrid work requirements.”

Extend IT Systems with Workspace ONE Freestyle Orchestrator

Workspace ONE Freestyle Orchestrator is a modern no-/low-code orchestration framework designed to help IT teams automate complex and manual configuration tasks. New updates to Workspace ONE Freestyle Orchestrator will enable automation beyond device-based task-specific workflows within Workspace ONE to context-driven ticketing workflows that span 3^rd party IT systems. With this expanded integration into 3^rd party ticketing tools such as ServiceNow, Coupa and more, IT can benefit from intelligent, proactive ticketing. Beyond endpoint management, Freestyle Orchestrator drives proactive ticketing for IT and tackles various complex businesses processes, enabling further efficiency and agility for IT.

VMware Horizon Cloud Next-Gen Now Extends to Hybrid Deployments, Receives Fed RAMP Authorization

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions have become essential assets in the rise of remote and hybrid work. They allow IT admins to deploy and provision virtual desktops and accompanying apps quickly and easily, saving time and enabling productivity. Today, VMware will announce that Horizon 8 customers using new Horizon SaaS subscriptions will be able to use their on-premises and cloud deployments to connect to Horizon Cloud next-gen, enabling a hybrid cloud experience. Customers will have the flexibility of deploying virtual desktops and apps in Microsoft Azure with an option to also run Horizon 8 on-premises or in the cloud, while leveraging the lower costs and scale benefits of the Horizon Cloud next-gen platform. With a hybrid-cloud approach, IT can further broaden the scope of use cases their VDI and DaaS environments can cover, including HA/DR and cloud bursting.

At VMware Explore 2022 US, VMware released the next-gen of Horizon Cloud for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. The next-gen platform uses a thin-edge architecture that helps reduce infrastructure costs by 70%, while increasing scalability by 150%².

Lastly, Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure has achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High Authorization through the Joint Authorization Board (JAB) and received its Authority to Operate (ATO) in Civilian agencies. In addition, VMware’s Horizon Cloud authorization package is now with the U.S. Defense Information Security Agency (DISA), and a Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) for U.S. Department of Defense Impact Level 5 is expected by end of the calendar year.

Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense Supports Phishing and Content Protection

Threats on mobile devices have doubled in the past year according to the Verizon Mobile Security Index, and mobile devices are even more critical in today’s anywhere work environment. Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense is built into VMware Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub, supporting customers by making activation of Mobile Threat Defense simpler, and protecting users no matter where and how they work. Now, customers will also be able to enable Phishing and Content Protection, coming soon as a Beta release. Phishing is the number one threat on mobile devices according to Verizon’s Business 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report and Mobile Threat Defense with included Phishing and Content Protection helps protect users while still providing the best experience for employees.