VMware To Add Windows 10 Configuration and Lifecycle Management to AirWatch
VMware believes it can lower the cost of deploying, configuring, managing and securing Windows 10 PCs by up to 30 percent with its new "modern" Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) approach with some key advances outlined at this week's VMworld conference, taking place in Las Vegas.
The new UEM approach outlined by VMware aims to further position the company as the "Switzerland" of endpoint and mobile device lifecycle management, in the worlds of Sanjay Poonen, executive general manager and VM of VMware's End-User Computing business, speaking in the keynote session yesterday, which he elaborated on in a meeting with press and analysts.
Poonen also outlined improved automation capabilities coming to the VMware Identity Manager in its Workspace One digital workspace, which includes improved provisioning of Office 365 accounts, support for Salesforce.com's suite of SaaS offerings, added security with support for two-factor authentication and the introduction of a performance boost coming to its Horizon virtual desktop platform. As part of its emphasis on end-user computing, VMware also announced enhancements to its Horizon virtual desktop platform, which include a claimed boost in performance via improvements to its Blast protocol and support for new hyper-converged systems from EMC, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Data Systems and QCT.
VMware said it will add the new UEM capabilities to Windows 10 in AirWatch, with details set to be announced in October at the annual AirWatch Connect conference, scheduled to take place in Atlanta. While packaging, branding, licensing and price are still to be determined, the plan is to extend AirWatch, which VMware claims is used by 20,000 organizations, to support not just mobile devices, but to provide what it believes will be a best-of breed alternative to Microsoft's EMS combined with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). The new Windows 10 UEM technology will use the AirWatch Web interface in a single pane of glass, explained Sumit Dhawan, senior VP and general manager of VMware's End User Computing group.
In addition to AirWatch MDM for Windows, the UEM technology added to the service will include configuration management, software distribution, OS patch management and client health and security, as described in a Web site Poonen pointed to called WindowsUEM.com.
"Unified endpoint management is absolutely a reality," said Poonen. "The key proposition of what we are trying to get done here is lower total cost of ownership in Windows 10. We want to lower that cost from $7k -- what it is typically today with a lot of servers, lots of other labor -- down to something 15 to 13 percent lower by taking endpoint management, security and lifecycle automation and pulling them together."
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 08/31/2016 at 12:29 PM