A new horizon for IT leaders: a strategic move away from VMware Horizon?

The higher education IT sector has been taken by storm recently, following Broadcom’s changes to VMware Horizon after its acquisition. The “tectonic changes” include cancelling reseller partnerships, perpetual licenses and other support services. This comes after unexpected price hikes across the board, and a huge blow for the higher ed sector, as the giant removed academic discounts to higher education institutions.

And as the dust starts to settle on these announcements, more uncertainty about the future of VMware is caused by news that KKR is purchasing a software division of Broadcom that facilitates remote desktop and application access for users. That is VMware Workspace One and VMware Horizon.

The impact is not limited to higher education, but it comes at a time when the sector is at a crisis point globally, with squeezed incomes from stagnant admission fees, decreasing international student numbers and rising operating costs. As the post-pandemic grace period is well and truly over for the sector, we are starting to see legislative and market change waves that push institutions in directions that are difficult to control.

Individually, these changes won’t make or break an institution, but their combined impact can add unnecessary pressures, if institutions don’t take a proactive and strategic approach in their response.

Events like this provide a key opportunity for universities and colleges rethink their traditional approach, create a holistic and collaborative strategy across the entire digital ecosystem and drive lasting transformation across the entire IT infrastructure.

Why break up with VMware

Software virtualization provided many solutions for the higher ed sector, and was a life saver during COVID, but the days of one size fits all virtualization platforms are over. Since its early days, the usage and use cases of virtualization software have increased, and so have the number of virtualization platforms offering different features and capabilities.

With such radical changes across the board, many institutions have started to lose trust in VMware as a solution, vendor, and their ability to continue to provide a viable service.

Why you should consider AppsAnywhere as a VMware alternative

If you’re in the business of providing students with access to digital knowledge and tools, it’s time to take a closer look at AppsAnywhere. For the last 15 years, it has helped over 300 higher education institutions deliver software to over 4 million students across 22 countries, on and off campus.

For those clients using AppsAnywhere as the main delivery technology, the changes discussed here have a significantly lower impact on their systems and bottom line.

Unlike VDI, AppsAnywhere only virtualizes the application (or the few hundred you may have), as opposed to the full desktop. The benefits are:

• It’s more cost effective.
• Only streams what you need. Why stream a full desktop, when you only need an app?
• Use your existing computing power; your local CPU and GPU to execute the app.
• AppsAnywhere can use hardware detection to send you to a VDI if required. It prompts you to virtualize the app, but only if your machine can handle it locally, saving money on VDI usage.
• Don’t need to maintain or manage VDI images or get tangled up in managing App Layering.

This is amazing news for clients, as it offers many benefits:

Cost savings

In a recent survey, 48% of IT professionals (not limited to higher ed) cited cost as the primary factor to consider VMware alternatives. With academic discounts gone, it can become prohibitively expensive to solely rely on VMware. A right sized VDI through alternative technologies can significantly reduce cost, freeing up resources to invest elsewhere.

Compared to a non-centralized and on-premise software management system, AppsAnywhere significantly reduces both the administrative complexities and associated costs.

• It cancels the need for managing multiple, disconnected systems, providing a unified solution for software management.
• It also provides pre-packaged apps, based on 300 clients’ most used applications, saving packaging time by 60%.
• It reduces the image size by 75%, which saves time and cost in image maintenance, patch or update management and delivery.
• It provides usage data so you can effectively manage software licenses, with average license savings of 10%.
• It extends your hardware life cycle by reducing footprint on your machines, servers, and enables BYOD.

Enhanced performance

Even if there was a like-for-like replacement for VMware at a lower cost, would it provide the best performance for your requirements? Alternative solutions, such as AppsAnywhere specialize in the higher education sector, offering tailored performance optimizations that can outshine VDI in many scenarios. This not only improves efficiency, but also delivers a better end user experience.

PC performance is improved as software packages do not have to be installed on the PC image. Software would be deployed on-demand, which means that PCs would be running quite lean, compared to the huge number of current applications. Application virtualization leaves the registry and the system folder untouched. Moreover, the application still behaves as if it was locally installed, and there’s generally no compromise on performance, so users can make full use of 3D graphics, HD content, high-CPU performance, and any other local resources. Advanced configurable virtualization means the user experience remains the same without any conflicts with the end point.

Attempting to do that in a VDI environment would require significant cost and complexity, all of which are difficult to sustain in the long term.

Flexibility and scalability

The flexibility to scale up and down, depending on changing requirements, is key in today’s world, so exploring other options means you are not constantly putting out fires every time there is a change. Your solution needs to adapt and grow with your strategy, whether that’s on premise, cloud, or hybrid.

One of the key benefits of AppsAnywhere is that different versions of software or new software requests can be accommodated almost instantly. Students and faculty don’t need to wait for administrators or study breaks to access software in a specific location when they need it.

The flexible deployment of AppsAnywhere allows clients to opt for the cloud-based delivery or on premise, depending on their strategy and priorities.

It allows you to grow the number of users, add or remove applications, manage licensing and take better control of your end user experience. And because this happens in a centralized way, you won’t need additional human resources to deliver this growth.

Better security and risk management

The recent en-masse changes and the seemingly little consideration for their impact on clients have left many institutions wondering what’s next. Once a trusted technology becomes unpredictable, it poses unmitigated risk.

Many IT strategies focus on embedding one technology across as many use cases as possible to remove complexity. Although it provides efficiency, in some ways it is like putting all your eggs in one provider’s basket. A diversified approach allows the removal of some of these risks by having in place plug and play solutions or a Plan B to switch to when things go wrong.

It’s always a good idea to have an “anchor” or centralized solution that can integrate and scale as your use cases or requirements grow. AppsAnywhere can do just that - if you’re looking for seamless software delivery, it does what it says on the tin, and can easily manage integrations with any and all the VM or VDI providers for specialized use cases.

AppsAnywhere is an integrative platform, that functions seamlessly with a broad range of pre-existing infrastructures at universities. It can integrate with most pre-exiting technologies, including:

• Microsoft SCCM: AppsAnywhere can integrate with Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM) and leverage these tools for the delivery and updating of native applications to Windows devices. This ensures that students and faculty receive the latest versions of applications without manual intervention from IT.
• Citrix, VMware, Parallels RAS: Whether you continue to use VMware or replace it with Citrix or Parallels RAS to host certain applications, AppsAnywhere will act as a unified portal through which students can access them.
• AWS AppStream and Dizzion Frame: by integrating AppsAnywhere with one of these leading Desktop-as-a-Service tools, a university can offer specific cloud-based applications to students and staff without them needing to install anything on their local machines.
• Azure Virtual Desktop and Azure Labs: just as with AWS AppStream, AppsAnywhere can connect to these Azure services to give users access to virtual desktops and labs, ensuring consistent application availability and performance, regardless of where the student is located.
• Mac Delivery Tools - JAMF Pro: AppsAnywhere's integration ensures that Mac users have a similar experience to Windows users, with applications being delivered and updated seamlessly to their devices.

Integration benefits include security, data privacy and compatibility, as well as having that Plan B at your fingertips.

Change is constant, yet we always get surprised by big changes. Long-term strategic plans are still vital to keep the ship floating in the right direction, but in these turbulent waters, they require the addition of shorter-term review cycles. Find out how AppsAnywhere can help you weather this wave and build a robust long-term strategy.

‍