Many organizations that use virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) choose to deploy persistent virtual desktops to ensure that applications, data, and customizations are continually saved, providing a consistent user experience similar to a physical PC. However, managing persistent desktops presents challenges for IT, including app and data delivery, OS and app upgrades, and significant storage and server resource use. Often, organizations use disparate tools to tackle these issues, leading to inefficiencies and higher costs. Fortunately, there is a comprehensive solution to overcome these challenges. 

We are excited to announce Omnissa Horizon^® 8 innovations across app and image management, Omnissa Workspace ONE^® Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) integration for Day 2 operations, and Omnissa Workspace ONE^® Experience Management for Horizon to help customers attain the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), enhance operational efficiency, and improve end-user experience for persistent VDI deployments. 

Let’s look at how each game-changing feature improves managing persistent desktops. 

Reduce image management time and infrastructure costs with App Volumes real-time app delivery to persistent desktops 

App Volumes updates apps independent of the OS, which reduces the number of discrete OS images IT needs to manage. Apps on Demand further enhances App Volumes with on-demand app delivery only when users request access to individual apps. Previously, App Volumes supported published apps and non-persistent desktops. With this additional support for persistent desktops, App Volumes with Apps on Demand enables the “Power of One,” so IT can now have one single OS image and one app copy, rather than maintain multiple OS images and app copies for their persistent VDI deployments. This saves IT time and reduces storage costs. 

Extend App Volumes persistent desktop support to hyperscaler DaaS deployments  

Customers using Microsoft Windows 365 or Amazon WorkSpaces can now benefit from App Volumes persistent desktop support to deliver and manage apps with App Volumes. App Volumes simplifies application lifecycle management across all these hyperscaler environments from a single console, greatly reducing IT costs to deliver apps. For IT teams struggling with modernizing legacy Windows apps, App Volumes has 99% app compatibility to move even tricky apps to the cloud.  

Figure 1. App Volumes extends support to deliver and manage apps on Windows 365 and Amazon WorkSpaces.

Simplify Day 2 operations across physical and virtual desktops with Workspace ONE UEM 

Unlike non-persistent desktops which are not stored when the session is over, persistent desktops retain their state even after users log out. Updates or patches to the OS and apps on persistent desktops are therefore more cumbersome and time-consuming to deploy because changes must be applied directly to the individual desktop images, as opposed to the clean image non-persistent desktops share. Workspace ONE UEM — an industry leader in modern desktop management — extends its management capabilities to Horizon persistent desktops, enabling routine Day 2 IT tasks without reimaging. These include managing golden images or individual desktops, OS and app patches, driver updates, configurations, and policies using a cloud-native and unified solution. By managing all physical and virtual desktops together, IT can reduce Day 2 costs and complexity.

Figure 2. Workspace ONE UEM can be used to manage physical and virtual desktops across multiple platforms and deployment types.

Extend Workspace ONE UEM support to persistent multi-user desktops for maximum efficiency and cost savings

Workspace ONE UEM now also supports persistent desktops for multi-users, enabling organizations to achieve significant cost savings through device consolidation. This innovative feature allows multiple users to share the same desktops at different times, making it ideal for shift work, call centers, or classrooms. IT admins can now easily set up and manage virtual and physical desktops that serve a wider range of users on fewer devices, reducing both operational and infrastructure costs. 

Reduce user downtime and helpdesk costs with DEX for Horizon 

Tracking and measuring the employee experience has become a critical IT requirement in a constantly expanding digital work environment, which now includes multiple devices, apps, OS platforms, and work locations. Particularly in a VDI environment, employees can become frustrated when experiencing long log-on times or poor application performance, leading to more support tickets. 

Our Digital Employee Experience (DEX) solution for Horizon now features new capabilities that reduce user downtime and helpdesk costs by accurately pinpointing and remediating virtual desktop experience issues. This includes monitoring long log-on times, slow app performance, and suboptimal configurations.  

Optimize log-on times with granular visibility into GPOs

With the Group Policy Object (GPO) breakdown feature in Experience Management for Horizon, IT admins gain granular visibility into group policies that cause long log-on times. IT teams can quickly and accurately pinpoint changes that cause delays and reduce the time spent on troubleshooting. Admins can also be proactively alerted to changes in GPO performance, allowing for immediate detection and correction of issues before they cause wide-scale problems. Furthermore, as issues are resolved, admins can proactively communicate expected log-on times to end users, resulting in fewer helpdesk calls.  

Figure 3. GPO breakdown within DEX for Horizon monitoring provides telemetry on log-on times.

Improve application resources and enhance stability with App Telemetry for VDI

IT admins often struggle with tools to monitor and analyze the performance and resource consumption of applications running within their virtual environments. Experience Management for Horizon fills this gap by providing VDI application usage and performance telemetry, including CPU and memory usage, app crash data, and app hang data. IT admins can make informed decisions on capacity planning and proactively address app stability issues.  

Enhance configuration flexibility and insights with custom sensors and scripting

VDI administrators are currently limited in customizing the data collection provided out of the box by DEX solutions. Now with Workspace ONE UEM, IT admins can create custom sensors and scripts to collect and build the specific data their environment requires, feeding into Experience Management for Horizon and leading to more informed decision-making. The scripting capability supports specific use cases (such as running batch files automatically based on set triggers) and automates manual remediation operations.  

How to attain the lowest-cost persistent desktops with Horizon and Workspace ONE

Delivering the lowest-cost persistent desktops with Horizon and Workspace ONE is not only about cost savings but also about transforming how organizations manage their digital work environments. By leveraging real-time application delivery with App Volumes, simplified Day 2 operations with Workspace ONE UEM, and detailed employee experience insights with our DEX solution, IT admins can achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in their roles.  

These exciting new capabilities are now available as part of our Horizon and Workspace ONE UEM 2406 releases. I encourage our Horizon customers to try App Volumes, UEM, and DEX for their persistent VDI environments. To learn more, visit the Omnissa virtual desktops & apps solution page.