Omnissa Horizon Explained

Omnissa Horizon
Other Names:VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, VMware View, VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM)
Author:VMware
Developer:Omnissa
Latest Release Version:2506.1 - 8.16.0 - Build Number: 17145568083
Latest Release Date:[1]
Qid:Q4052548
Engines:-->
Operating System:Windows, Linux, macOS
Language:English, Japanese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese[2]
Genre:Desktop virtualization
License:Proprietary

Omnissa Horizon (formerly called VMware Horizon, VMware Horizon View, VMware View) is a commercial desktop and app virtualization product originally developed by VMware, Inc for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems.

It was first sold under the name VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM), but with the release of version 3.0.0 in 2008 it was changed to "VMware View". The name was updated to "Horizon View" with the launch of version 6 in April 2014[3] [4] and then referred to as "VMware Horizon" to represent desktop and app virtualization.

Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware in November 2023, and then in May 2024 spun out the End-User Computing division, including Horizon, into a standalone entity called Omnissa pending the sale to KKR.[5] [6] [7]

Features

Omnissa Horizon provides virtual desktop and app capabilities to users utilizing VMware's virtualization technology. A desktop operating system - typically Microsoft Windows - runs within a virtual machine on a hypervisor. VMware Horizon product has a number of components which are required to provide the virtual desktops, including:

Although VMware licenses vSphere hypervisor per physical CPU-socket,[8] it licenses VMware View per concurrent desktop.[9] The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus.[10]

VMware View has two licensing options, Enterprise and Premier. Enterprise comes with vSphere for Desktops, vCenter Server, and View Manager, and has an MSRP of $150 per concurrent desktop. View Composer, Persona Management, vShield Endpoint, and ThinApp are included in the Premier edition at an MSRP of $250 per concurrent desktop.[9]

In order to transport the desktop resources to users, keyboard, video, mouse and other interactions travel over a network connection. VMware View supports the VMware Blast Extreme, Microsoft RDP, and the Teradici PCoIP[11] protocols.

Horizon Client

Omnissa Horizon Client
Other Names:VMware Horizon Client, VMware Horizon View Client, VMware View Client
Author:VMware
Developer:Omnissa
Latest Release Version:2503
Operating System:Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS
Language:English, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish
Genre:Desktop virtualization, Thin client
License:Commercial, proprietary with open-source bits[12]

Users establish client connections to VMware View sessions by running the VMware View Client, through a web browser using HTML5,[13] or using a thin client that supports the protocols in use. The VMware View client supports Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux, while ChromeOS is able to connect through the web browser.

Ubuntu 12.10 can login to VMware View desktops directly from the login screen.[14]

Versions

Horizon

Version release history:

VMware Horizon 6.0 (June 19, 2014)

VMware Horizon 7.0 (March 22, 2016)

VMware Horizon 8.0 (Announced Aug 6, 2020)[17]

VMware Horizon 8[18]

VersionGeneral AvailabilityEnd of General SupportEnd of Technical GuidanceESB Release
20062020-08-112025-08-112027-08-11
20122021-01-072024-01-072025-01-07
21032021-03-232024-03-232025-03-23
21062021-07-152024-07-152025-07-15
21112021-11-302024-11-302025-11-30
22032022-01-072025-01-072026-01-07
DaaS On Prem 9.12021-01-072024-01-072025-01-07
22062022-07-192025-07-192026-07-19
22092022-10-202025-10-202026-10-20
22122023-01-122026-01-122027-01-12
23032023-03-302026-03-302027-03-30
23062023-07-062026-07-062027-07-06
23092023-10-262026-10-262027-10-26
23122024-01-232027-01-232028-01-23Yes[19]
24062024-07-252027-07-252028-07-25Yes
24122024-01-282027-01-282028-01-28No[20]
DaaS 9.2.02023-04-272026-04-272027-04-27

Horizon Client

The Client software is known as Client Agent Release Train (CART). CART it is on a separate release cycle than VMware View/Horizon but often coincides with it.

Horizon Clients

Horizon Clients - Naming convention changed to denote the year and month of build release

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Omnissa Horizon 8 Release Notes . Omnissa Documentation . Omnissa, LLC . 22 Aug 2025.
  2. Web site: Horizon 8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) . Omnissa Tech Zone . Omnissa, LLC . 24 Mar 2025.
  3. Web site: VMware Announces General Availability of VMware View 3, with Ground-Breaking Advances in Managing, Scaling and Personalizing Virtual Desktop Environments. 2008-12-02. VMware News Release. VMware. Palo Alto. 2010-08-12. PALO ALTO, Calif., December 2, 2008 – VMware Inc. [...] today announced the general availability of VMware View 3 [...].
  4. Web site: VMware's Horizon 6 launches, targets Citrix. Dignan. Larry. 2014-04-09. ZDNet. CBS Interactive. 2014-04-16. Horizon 6 consolidates a few VMware applications.[...] VMware View becomes Horizon View..
  5. Web site: Introducing Omnissa, the former VMware End-User Computing business . Omnissa . 10 January 2025.
  6. Web site: Omnissa official launch with close of KKR acquisition . 2025-01-06 . www.omnissa.com.
  7. Web site: End User Computing (EUC) transition to Omnissa . Broadcom . 10 January 2025.
  8. Web site: vSphere. 2023-12-22 .
  9. Web site: VMware Horizon View 5 - Deliver Desktop Services from Your Cloud for End-User Freedom & IT Control . https://web.archive.org/web/20130812134504/http://www.vmware.com/products/view/howtobuy.html . 2013-08-12.
  10. Web site: Raj . Mallempati . Desktop Virtualization with vSphere 5: Licensing Overview (Update 8/3/11) . 2011-08-03 . . en-US . 2022-10-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211016232321/https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2011/08/desktop-virtualization-with-vsphere-5-licensing-overview.html . 2021-10-16 . live . dmy-all.
  11. Web site: VMware Announces Strategic Licensing and Co-development Agreement with Teradici for True Remote PC User Experience Further Bolstering its vClient Initiative. 2023-12-22 .
  12. Web site: OSS Licenses and Disclosure packages for VMware Horizon clients. en. 2019-04-29.
  13. Web site: Ericom's HTML5 VDI Client for VMware View – Bet... VMware Communities. communities.vmware.com. 30 March 2011. en. 2018-05-07.
  14. News: Joey . Sneddon . Ubuntu 12.10 Login Screen Adds Remote Desktop Access . 2012-09-12. OMG! Ubuntu! . 2018-05-07 . en-US . dmy-all .
  15. Web site: Release Notes for VMware Horizon 7 version 7.12 . VMware . 3 June 2021.
  16. Web site: Release Notes for VMware Horizon 7 version 7.13.1 . VMware . 3 June 2021.
  17. Web site: VMware Horizon 8 Announcement and Pricing and Packaging Updates (80146) . Knowledge Base . VMware . 11 August 2020.
  18. Web site: Omnissa Lifecycle Matrix . 2025-03-24 . docs.omnissa.com.
  19. Web site: Omnissa Horizon 8 Release Notes. docs.vmware.com. en.
  20. Web site: Omnissa Horizon 8 Release Notes . 2025-01-30 . docs.omnissa.com.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Omnissa Horizon".

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