VMware Horizon 8 Version 2303 Release: Enhancing User Experience and Support for Horizon Cloud Next-Gen

VMware Horizon 8 Version 2303 Release: Enhancing User Experience and Support for Horizon Cloud Next-Gen

The latest release of VMware Horizon 8, version 2303, is now available, bringing significant improvements to customer experience and enhanced support for Horizon Cloud next-gen. This article will highlight the key features introduced in this release. For a comprehensive list of updates, please refer to the VMware Horizon 8 2303 Release Notes.

Enhanced User Experience:

Horizon 2303 introduces several new features aimed at enhancing the end-user experience. These include notable improvements to Teams integration, Blast support for AV1 codec and Mac M1-RM, as well as user notifications.

Improved Graphics and Video with AV1 Codec and New GPUs:

With added support for AV1 codec, Horizon now offers higher compression rates, resulting in faster rendering and superior quality for graphics-intensive applications and videos. VMware has collaborated with Intel and Nvidia to ensure compatibility with their GPUs, providing users with an exceptional virtual experience. Horizon also supports Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series and Intel Arc GPUs, offering increased flexibility and cost options without the need for virtualization licensing costs.

Enhanced Screen Share and Capture Functionality on Microsoft Teams:

This release introduces two screen share enhancements for Microsoft Teams. Users can now share individual applications instead of the entire screen, allowing for greater control and privacy during app sharing. Additionally, users can capture screenshots during screen sharing sessions, providing easy access to important visuals. These features, available on the Windows client, significantly improve the virtual experience when using Teams.

Improved Graphics for the Mac Client:

Horizon now supports the Blast Codec on Mac M1-ARM, resulting in a much-improved experience for end users running general-purpose workloads, including Microsoft Office applications and mixed screens with Office apps and multimedia. The Blast Codec ensures optimal performance and efficiency, bringing M1-based Macs on par with other native clients running Horizon.

Notifications for Connectivity Issues:

Horizon now provides end users with notifications regarding poor or unstable internet connections. These notifications help users troubleshoot connectivity issues and differentiate them from virtual experience-related problems.

Improved Admin Efficiency and Troubleshooting:

Horizon 8 2303 introduces new features to enhance admin efficiency, including new APIs for automation, improved login failure identification, and robust search capabilities for Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) configuration files. It also offers better integration with Horizon Cloud Service next-gen.

Increased Automation via RESTful APIs:

Horizon 2303 introduces new RESTful APIs, allowing for better automation scripts for various functions, such as connecting the Horizon Edge Gateway, monitoring, secondary credentials, Virtual Center, and User or Group Global Summary. These scripts enhance scalability and performance while reducing the workload on IT admins.

Pinpointing Login Issues:

When login failures occur, Horizon provides detailed error messages, enabling administrators to quickly identify the cause of the failure and take appropriate corrective measures. This expedites troubleshooting and ensures seamless connectivity for end users.

Robust DEM Search for Administrative Efficiency:

Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) now offers the ability to search configuration files, streamlining administrative tasks. Admins can easily identify and make necessary changes to files, such as updating or deleting config files, managing policies, and handling drive and printer mappings. This feature significantly improves efficiency and saves time.

Hybrid Microsoft Azure Active Directory Support:

Horizon 2303 supports limited deployment types for hybrid Azure Active Directory (AD) configurations. This enables end users to sign into applications that use Azure AD for authentication, including SaaS applications and Microsoft cloud services (Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure). User single sign-on (SSO) is available for hybrid Azure AD deployments, where the on-premises active directory is connected to Azure AD using Azure AD Connect or ADFS. Manual desktop pools, automated full clones, and instant clone desktop pools support all hybrid AD deployments. This support simplifies user access management for cloud applications alongside on-premises infrastructure and applications.

Android and iOS Client Support for Horizon Cloud Next-Gen:

The client agent release for Horizon 2203 now supports Android and iOS clients for customers using Horizon Cloud next-gen. This enables administrators to easily connect to services on these mobile devices, providing flexibility and accessibility to the Horizon Cloud Service.

Authentication Support for Microsoft Azure AD on Horizon Cloud Next-Gen:

Customers running Horizon 8 on premises and adopting Horizon Cloud next-gen can now authenticate and domain join desktops to Azure AD without the requirement of being domain joined on premises. Group management can be performed effectively in Azure AD, allowing for streamlined management from the cloud.