VMworld 2012: New VMware Horizon Suite delivers apps, data to any device

28.08.2012
VMWare Tuesday pulled the wraps off its mobility platform, Horizon Suite, showing how it can securely deliver workers the set of applications and data they need regardless of the devices they use including iPads and iPhones even those that are owned by employees.

 

While its only in alpha release now, a demonstration of the software was the centerpiece of todays keynote at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco, where attendees witnessed an iPhone download an app from a Horizon catalog and run it in a secure container on the phone.

Businesses could use this capability to allow workers to bring their own devices to work and use business applications but also offer protection against data leaking into parts of the phone that might become compromised.

During a demonstration Horizon blocked an attempt to cut and paste data from an application running in a container to one that was also running on the iPhone but that came from outside the catalog. Similarly, it could prevent capture of screenshots and de-provision apps, says Vittorio Viarengo, VMwares vice president of marketing for its end user computing division.

Custom corporate applications can be added to Horizon catalogs simply, he says, by plugging them into the VMware framework where the can be encapsulated by Horizon. That is less intrusive than writing to VMware APIs, he says.