UPDATED 12:53 EDT / APRIL 02 2012

VMware Pulls the Private Cloud Back into the Enterprise, Plus Training

Virtualization solutions maker VMware is swiftly rounding out an expanding portfolio of personal cloud tools: from software that allows employees to ‘split’ their phones to a work profile and a personal profile, to a SaaS policy enforcement platform.

These are already available in the form of the Horizon Application Manager, announced last May, and Horizon Mobile for Android devices.  And there’s also View for virtual desktops, among the other products that comprise VMware’s personal cloud puzzle. But it’s not complete just yet, and InfoWorld provided an early glimpse into what may be two of the final pieces.

The first one is known as AppBlast, which tries to simplify things amidst a rapid increase in the number of end points connected to enterprise networks.

“In a recent demo at InfoWorld’s offices in San Francisco, I was blown away by a VMware prebeta project called AppBlast, which provides remote access not via a dedicated client such as View, but over plain old HTTP. That’s right, when the actual product ships, you’ll be able to pop open your desktop or mobile browser and remotely use any application on any AppBlast-enabled device in your personal arsenal over an Ethernet or a 3G/4G connection.”

The second in-development solution is Octopus, an in-house storage service. It aims to match the security (but mostly convenience) of services such as Box by enabling companies to run a similar service on their own servers, rather than public infrastructure.

AppBlast and Octopus fit in quite nicely into a broader workplace personal cloud picture, one that connects mobile-era flexibility with centralized IT control for the admin. It stretches beyond just VDI; an area that VMware remains heavily invested in, especially in light of the growing demand most recently addressed by Dell.


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