Comparing Moka5 LivePC Vs. VMware Horizon Flex
On October 14th, VMware announced several new offerings at VMworld Europe. We here at Moka5 immediately began getting a lot of questions along the lines of “this new Horizon FLEX from VMware sounds a lot like what you do?” so we thought we’d lay out the similarities and differences here.
By no means is this an exhaustive list (even though it does look pretty long!), but hopefully it gives you a sense of some of the major differences between Moka5 LivePC and the upcoming release of VMware Horizon FLEX. Disclaimer: Horizon FLEX is not yet GA, this analysis is based on published marketing and social media materials available to date.
| Capability | Benefit | Moka5 LivePC | VMware Horizon FLEX |
| Infrastructure | |||
| Simple, lightweight infrastructure | Faster implementations, less long-term maintenance costs, and deploys where you need it | Single infrastructure for container & image creation, distribution, and remote mgt. | FLEX Policy Server + Mirage+ AirWatch |
| Host platform support | Ensure the containers can operate on the systems you need them to | Windows, Mac, bare metal | Windows, Mac |
| Guest OS support | For users that need a full OS & thick-client app environment | Windows | Windows, Mac |
| Hypervisor | Creates the isolation between the host and workspace(s) in the container | Player, Fusion | Player, Fusion |
| Scalability | Minimize investment in backend infrastructure | 14,000+ containers on one ~$5,000 server | ? |
| Security | |||
| Container & workspace policy set | Manage and secure the PC container environment while maximizing the user experience with a complete set of policy controls | 130+ | ? |
| Container encryption | Protect data in the container in the event the device is lost or stolen or the host is compromised | AES 256 bit |
✔ |
| Host AV scan | Prevent compromise of the container by malware on the host |
✔ |
|
| Untrusted Host Assessment | Verify unmanaged hosts comply with company policies such as current AV & patch levels, personal firewall |
✔ |
|
| Container DLP controls | Prevent copy/paste, drag & drop, host USB and printer access as needed |
✔ |
✔ |
| Copy protection | Prevent users from copying the container to other systems |
✔ |
|
| Remote and time-based revoke | Disable access to the container as needed or automatically if it has been offline too long |
✔ |
✔ |
| Remote and time-based wipe | Completely wipe and overwrite the container as needed or automatically if it has been offline too long |
✔ |
|
| Multi-factor authentication | Utilize advanced authentication mechanisms like RSA SecureID |
✔ |
? |
| Management | |||
| Workspace (VM) download | Enable options for how users retrieve the container and workspace files | HTTPS web page, USB | HTTPS web page, USB |
| Off-network first-time provisioning | Enable off-network domain-join and first-time provisioning so that untrusted hosts are never on the corporate network |
✔ |
|
| Off-network updates | Distribute patches, configuration changes, and new policies without requiring a connection to the corporate network |
✔ |
Policy changes, guest content mgmt requires network connection |
| Sophisticated update controls | Allow users to delay downloads and application of updates as needed, plus forced updates if desired |
✔ |
|
| APIs for 3rd party integrations | Allow IT support personnel to execute authorized container commands or system data from their existing tools such as Service Desk systems |
✔ |
To see where Moka5 is headed next, check out this blog post from our VP of Product Management, Naveed Makhani, on the expected arrival of Project SkyNet – our next-gen, lightweight container for the enterprise consumer. It will provide secure access to web apps, network file shares, and the corporate Intranet while delivering offline file viewing & editing without a hypervisor or OS in the container.
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