What's new in Horizon 7.0.3

Today, VMware announced the Q4 release of Horizon, version 7.0.3. In this post I will explain the new features and functionality.

Windows OS Support

Horizon 7.0.3 has an extended Windows 10 support with the following branches:

Windows 10 version 1511 Current Business Branch (CBB)
Windows 10 version 1507 Current Business Branch (CBB)
Windows 10 version 1507 Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)
Windows 10 version 1607 Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)
Windows 10 version 1607 Current Branch (CB) as a tech preview feature

Also, Windows Server 2016 is now fully supported as an RDS server and VDI desktop.

VMware PowerCLI for Horizon

Finally! This is some really cool stuff. VMware integrated support for Horizon into VMware PowerCLI 6.5 R1.

Some features:

Distributed as a module
Shipped with PowerCLI
Supports the VMware PowerCLI Object Model and Connect Model
Access to the full Horizon View Public API
Connects to the View API
- Connect from remote workstation/ servers
- Leverages existing interfaces within Horizon used for internal apps
- Provides broadest coverage of Horizon Administration functions

Blast Extreme Enhancements

VMware keeps optimizing the Blast Extreme Protocol. Some cool new updates:

Improved Bandwidth Optimization
- Improved out of box bandwidth utilization for both JPG/PNG & H.264 codecs
- Up to 30% reduction in out of box bandwidth usage compared to previous releases

Multi-display support
- Awesomesauce! By supporting multiple monitors including the H.264 codec, this could be the final bit that could make PCoIP obsolete. Theoretically spoken, this could mean that the performance of a Blast Extreme multi monitor session could be similar to a PCoIP multi monitor session, but with less power consumption on the endpoint.

Mobile clients
- iOS & Android mobile standby mode is added so when switching from a Horizon Client to another app and back will become more efficient. Users will no longer need to reconnect to their sessions and can resume their work immediately.

Horizon for Linux

Horizon for Linux started out as a niche thing with limited capabilities. As time goes by, the product is getting more and more complete and usable for the masses.

Here is an overview of new features:

Enhanced user experience with multi-monitor support with H.264 software encoding
Audio in (Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, RHEL 7.2, CentOS 7.2) (so end user can place voice call with remote Linux desktop)
Support for NVIDIA GRID vGPU on Tesla M6 with RHEL 6.x and 7.x
Ubuntu 16.04 as guest OS
Expand Copy/Paste to more Linux distros (Ubuntu 14.04/16.04, Redhat 7.x/CentOS 7.x/SLES12.x)

Horizon Client 4.3

With the new Horizon 7.0.3, the Horizon Client for different endpoint is update as well. Here is an overview of the new features per client:

Windows Client 4.3
- Enhanced user experience for multi-monitor use cases to have end user to select certain monitors for VDI sessions and not be restricted to all or one
- Common installer for 32 & 64 bit OS
- Support for smart card re-authentication
- Support for Windows 10 Anniversary Update LTSB (version 1607) as client OS
- Support for running Horizon Client nested in a Horizon VDI desktop
- New client GPO to disable and hide Client Drive Redirection from users
- Support automatic upgrades from VMware.com to the latest Horizon Client (requires admin enablement)

MacOS Client 4.3
- macOS Sierra (10.12) official support
- Support for macOS Sierra (10.12) Tabs feature
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters

Linux Client 4.3
- Generic USB redirection for VMware Horizon RDS desktops
- Client Drive Redirection is set as the default when redirecting USB storage devices
- Enhanced user experience for multi-monitor use cases by detecting local monitor topology
- Pass command-line arguments when launching a remote application from a vmware-view:// URI
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters

iOS Client 4.3
- Support for iOS 10
- Support Smart Card for multiple user accounts
- Pass command-line arguments when launching a remote application from a vmware-view:// URI
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters
- Improved compatibility with cellular connections

Android Client 4.3
- Admin can push default username and domain to AirWatch managed clients
- Rich Text copy & paste support for Google applications
- Support smart card for multiple user accounts
- Pass command line arguments when launching a remote application from a vmware-view:// URI
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters

Chrome OS Client 4.3
- Support audio-in for real time communication
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters

HTML Access 4.3
- Improved performance for Real-Time Audio-Video (RTAV) webcam and audio redirection
- Time zone synchronization now adapts to daylight savings time
- Pass command-line arguments when launching a remote application from a vmware-view:// URI
- Download link for native clients available from the HTML Access login page
- Seamless experience for Horizon Air customers when connecting to multiple datacenters

Windows 10 UWP Client 4.3
- General availability of Windows 10 UWP Client with Blast Extreme (Tech Preview support for PCoIP protocol)
- Refined gestures for the Windows desktops
- Two-factor authentication support
- Side bar support for desktop and application switch
- French, German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish language keyboard support