Two of the challenges introduced by cloud, SaaS, web applications is that users need to remember many passwords, and that administrators need to create accounts for each employee for every internal and 3rd party application that the company uses.

Yesterday VMware has announced VMware Horizon App Manager which solves many of these problems.

VMware Horizon App Manager gives end users access to SaaS and Web applications across different devices while retaining control and visibility and ensuring compliance via policy-driven management. VMware Horizon App Manager lets you provision and entitle secure access to end users, track SaaS license activity, and get usage reports.

VMware Horizon App Manager lets enterprises manage and create account for every employee automatically (via internal or 3rd party APIs). Horizon App Manager also remembers all the passwords , just like Roboform or Lastpass would do. The employees can effectively use the App Manager as a HUB for their cloud activities.

VMware Horizon App Manager is the first component of Project Horizon which VMware presented at VMworld last year. Future releases of VMware Horizon will broker user access to a variety of application types, virtual Windows desktops and data resources, while delivering the security and control required by businesses. The result will be a simple, seamless user experience when accessing work resources across the private and public cloud on whatever device the user chooses.

VMware Horizon App Manager includes an identity as a service hub that securely extends a user’s existing identity in systems such as Microsoft Active Directory or other directory options, into third-party public cloud applications like Box.net, BroadVision, Google, Salesforce.com, WebEx, Workday and others. This dramatically simplifies the management of multiple access credentials, a necessity brought about by the growing number of cloud applications now found in a typical enterprise. Simplification benefits both IT and users by collapsing separate identity silos into a single enterprise identity that can secure user access across private and public clouds.

In addition, the VMware Horizon App Manager provides an open platform for accessing cloud applications within a single application portal that is accessible from a wide range of end-user devices.

As a result:

  • Users gain the freedom of easy, single sign-on (SSO) access to their cloud applications through the application portal;
  • VMware Horizon App Manager provides a simple way for IT administrators to control entitlement and access to almost any cloud application through a centralized application catalog;
  • VMware Horizon App Manager™ extends and federates existing on-premise identity infrastructure.

Future releases of VMware Horizon will combine the management of existing Windows applications via application virtualization and publishing technologies from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, alongside the management of cloud-based applications.

VMware Horizon App Manager is available today to select early access customers in North America and Asia Pacific Region, and via trials in other regions. The price of VMware Horizon App Manager is $30,- per user/per year.
Got you interested? Watch the VMware Horizon App Manager demo video.
For more information go to www.vmware.com/go/horizonappmanager.