The VMware Horizon portfolio consists of two main virtual desktop and application platforms with additional management products that can be used in conjunction with these platforms to efficiently and securely deliver virtual desktops and applications to end users across many different deployment scenarios.
- VMware Horizon 8
This platform, formerly known as "View", "Horizon 7" or sometimes referred to as "Horizon Enterprise" or "Horizon", focuses on supporting delivering virtual desktops and applications in a vSphere-based environment, whether deployed on-premises or in public clouds.
- VMware Horizon Cloud on Azure
This DaaS (desktop-as-a-service) platform focuses on delivering virtual desktops and applications in a native cloud environment. It supports the Microsoft Azure native cloud environment.
In addition to and in conjunction with these two platforms, VMware offers a cloud-based control plane (Horizon Control Plane) and its associated SaaS services (Horizon Cloud Services). Horizon Control Plane and Horizon Cloud Services support both Horizon 8 as well as Horizon Cloud on Azure platforms. For Horizon 8 deployments, Horizon Control Plane and associated optional SaaS services can be unlocked by SaaS licenses. For Horizon Cloud on Azure deployment, Horizon Control Plane is the default GUI for administrators to manage their environment.
Horizon Agent and Horizon clients are common or shared across the two platforms. Additional products in the Horizon portfolio such as App Volumes, Dynamic Environment Manager, and Workspace One Access, support both platforms in similar ways.
For a visual depiction of the various deployment scenarios that are achievable with our platforms, see https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon/index.html
The remainder of this document will introduce each platform, the control plane and associated SaaS services, as well as the key elements that are common to both platforms.
