Omnissa brings VDI-style app packaging to physical PCs
(2025/06/24)
- Reference: 1750739655
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/24/omnissa_appvolumes_physical_extension/
- Source link:
Omnissa, the independent company that acquired VMware’s former end-user compute portfolio, has tweaked its App Volumes product that packages and deploys desktop apps for use on virtual PCs so it works on physical machines too.
Orgs that adopt desktop virtualization (VDI) typically do so because they work in highly regulated industries or security-sensitive government agencies where even a well-managed desktop that restricts users from installing software isn’t considered sufficiently safe. VDI players have therefore created tools to deploy desktop apps to virtual PCs, and to manage them in line with corporate policies.
App Volumes therefore bundles apps into a form that makes it possible for just-in-time delivery of apps to virtual PCs, an important consideration because some software can take a while to install and users of virtual desktops probably won’t have time to wait for that to happen.
[1]
Virtual desktops, however, account for only around five percent of the global PC fleet. If Omnissa is to achieve the sort of growth that its [2]private equity owners typically covet, it needs to target bigger markets.
[3]
[4]
Which is why the company has tweaked App Volumes so it can deploy packaged apps to physical PCs. The tech works by bundling all the files a desktop app requires into a virtual hard disk (VHD) that Windows mounts as if it were any other external disk – but without presenting it as a volume, as would happen if users connected a USB storage device.
Windows just sees the files it needs to run an app – helped by an App Volumes agent.
[5]Citrix finds new use for virtualization: Avoiding PC price hikes caused by tariffs
[6]Gartner warns Omnissa – formerly VMware's end-user compute biz – represents new risks
[7]Omnissa, VMware’s old end-user outfit, moves to manage servers and … Apple Watches?
[8]HTTP your way into Citrix's Virtual Apps and Desktops with fresh exploit code
Omnissa has created tools to automate app distribution and hopes that takes it into competition with the likes of Microsoft’s software deployment tool Endpoint Configuration Manager. The VMware spin-out thinks its prospects of doing so will improve soon, once it adds full lifecycle management of desktop apps to its portfolio.
Omnissa is not alone in using app deployment tools developed for VDI on physical PCs – its direct rival Citrix is already there.
[9]
The company also competes with Citrix as a partner of Nutanix, which was not shy about the delicious irony of the former VMware business unit allowing its products to run on its own AHV hypervisor. Omnissa last week brought its wares to another hypervisor: Singaporean company Arcfra’s Virtualization Engine (AVE).
As our sibling publication Blocks and Files recently [10]reported , Arcfra opened for business in just 2024 but managed to earn a spot in analyst firm Gartner’s Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software. Omnissa and Arcfra last week announced a joint VDI solution they claim will be far cheaper to operate than a similar setup on VMware’s VSAN virtual storage appliances. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/omnissa_strategy_reveal/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/citrix_virtualisation_avoids_tariffs/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/gartner_omnissa_vmware_euc_strategy/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/06/omnissa_server_management_hypervisor_independence/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/12/http_citrix_vuln/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://blocksandfiles.com/2025/05/09/meet-new-hci-vendor-arcfra/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Orgs that adopt desktop virtualization (VDI) typically do so because they work in highly regulated industries or security-sensitive government agencies where even a well-managed desktop that restricts users from installing software isn’t considered sufficiently safe. VDI players have therefore created tools to deploy desktop apps to virtual PCs, and to manage them in line with corporate policies.
App Volumes therefore bundles apps into a form that makes it possible for just-in-time delivery of apps to virtual PCs, an important consideration because some software can take a while to install and users of virtual desktops probably won’t have time to wait for that to happen.
[1]
Virtual desktops, however, account for only around five percent of the global PC fleet. If Omnissa is to achieve the sort of growth that its [2]private equity owners typically covet, it needs to target bigger markets.
[3]
[4]
Which is why the company has tweaked App Volumes so it can deploy packaged apps to physical PCs. The tech works by bundling all the files a desktop app requires into a virtual hard disk (VHD) that Windows mounts as if it were any other external disk – but without presenting it as a volume, as would happen if users connected a USB storage device.
Windows just sees the files it needs to run an app – helped by an App Volumes agent.
[5]Citrix finds new use for virtualization: Avoiding PC price hikes caused by tariffs
[6]Gartner warns Omnissa – formerly VMware's end-user compute biz – represents new risks
[7]Omnissa, VMware’s old end-user outfit, moves to manage servers and … Apple Watches?
[8]HTTP your way into Citrix's Virtual Apps and Desktops with fresh exploit code
Omnissa has created tools to automate app distribution and hopes that takes it into competition with the likes of Microsoft’s software deployment tool Endpoint Configuration Manager. The VMware spin-out thinks its prospects of doing so will improve soon, once it adds full lifecycle management of desktop apps to its portfolio.
Omnissa is not alone in using app deployment tools developed for VDI on physical PCs – its direct rival Citrix is already there.
[9]
The company also competes with Citrix as a partner of Nutanix, which was not shy about the delicious irony of the former VMware business unit allowing its products to run on its own AHV hypervisor. Omnissa last week brought its wares to another hypervisor: Singaporean company Arcfra’s Virtualization Engine (AVE).
As our sibling publication Blocks and Files recently [10]reported , Arcfra opened for business in just 2024 but managed to earn a spot in analyst firm Gartner’s Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software. Omnissa and Arcfra last week announced a joint VDI solution they claim will be far cheaper to operate than a similar setup on VMware’s VSAN virtual storage appliances. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/omnissa_strategy_reveal/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/citrix_virtualisation_avoids_tariffs/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/gartner_omnissa_vmware_euc_strategy/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/06/omnissa_server_management_hypervisor_independence/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/12/http_citrix_vuln/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/virtualization&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFp3NlU4pQx-mygyLkme_QAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://blocksandfiles.com/2025/05/09/meet-new-hci-vendor-arcfra/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Gosh
AMBxx
That's been available since XP or 7. Perhaps you should get some facts before posting?
Gosh
> a virtual hard disk (VHD) that Windows mounts as if it were any other external disk – but without presenting it as a volume
Sounds like they've reinvented mount points under Windows!
Do we get to edit fstab or are these things going to insist they know best?[1]
[1] sarcasm aside, as this is Windows, the answer is certainly going to be "yes, they do know best" or maybe least worst: it'll be one mount point under programs, one underneath your user's roaming, one under appdata, one under your documents, one more over here - and a couple (dozen) Registry entries to enable double-click to open. Actually, doing that would be neat: I can never remember the "proper" way to put programs onto Windows, all that scattershot stuff. I'm too lazy (and not doing it commercially any more) so just stick to mainly statically linked exes that happily run from wherever they are and where you plonk your data files is your business.