The company also is beta testing new apps that use Bluetooth Low Energy beacons to support social distancing and capacity monitoring in office spaces.

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VMware says its Horizon 8 release gives IT teams more tools to manage virtual desktop infrastructure with expanded options for cloud deployment and new RESTful APIs. The new features, introduced on Thursday, reflect the all-remote reality of the coronavirus pandemic and challenges that come with it. VMware is also developing services to help companies reopen office spaces, if and when that time comes.

SEE: Top cloud providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, hybrid, SaaS players (TechRepublic)

Horizon 8 is designed to put more management tools for the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) in one place and to make it easier to scale VDI deployments, VMware said. The new features include:

VMware Horizon 8 lets IT teams use the same control plane to deploy and manage hybrid environments that extend to VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure supports the features of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop, including Windows 10 Enterprise multisession, and recently added support for VMware App Volumes.

Shannon Kalvar, IT service management and client virtualization for IDC, in the IDC MarketScape "Worldwide Virtual Client Computing 20192020 Vendor Assessment," wrote about VMWare that "Unifying physical device management (including PCs, Chromebooks, and phones), digital workspace creation/operations, and client workspace security into the overall platform is an attractive proposition for customers that are already invested in it."

The new Horizon 8 features will be available by the end of October 2020.

VMware says its new Workspace ONE Proximity and Workspace ONE Campus apps in the Workspace ONE platform will help office managers and HR professionals meet the requirements that the coronavirus pandemic has created. The Proximity app uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to monitor how people interact at the office to support contact tracing and social distancing. The Campus app uses the same beacon infrastructure to allow people to reserve meeting rooms and desks. The services are in beta now and VMware is testing them internally as employees return to work at corporate offices. VMware has not announced a release date for these apps.

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VMware expands cloud services and cloning capabilities with Horizon 8 release - TechRepublic