VMware Horizon View & Skype for Business just got better with Horizon 7.4

VMware just made Horizon View and  Skype for Business solution a more complete feeling with the latest release of Horizon View 7.4 release. This is done with the Horizon Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business. The reason why I like this solution so much is the fact that it can enable Horizon View users both on the desktop and RDSH the ability to leverage features that would with out the Virtualization pack have a high resource impact.It does this by optimally delivering audio and video either directly between end-points for one-on-one collaboration, or offloaded to a central Multi-point Control Unit (MCU) for multi-party conference calls or meetings.

So what is new with Horizon 7.4 that list can be found below but i think the support for Mac clients is a really big one as this now gets the solution to have support on Windows, Mac, and Linux clients. This allows more users to be able to have device choice and not lose out on this great feature.

• Support for Horizon 7 Mac Client: This includes HID devices and H.264 hardware cameras.
• Microsoft Office Integration: This includes Microsoft SharePoint, Yammer, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook.
• Call Delegation: Users can be assigned to receive calls on behalf of, or in addition to, the person who assigned them as a delegate. Delegates may also make calls on behalf of another user.
• Call via X (home, work, etc.): A user enabled for Call Via Work can click in Skype for Business to call another user, either within their deployment or as an external user. The call is completed with the user’s PBX phone.
• Active Speaker Identification: During conference calls, the active speaker’s video is displayed.
• Volume Control from Remote Desktop: Users can now control the Skype for Business call volume from within the VDI desktop (using the volume control in the lower right corner).
• Response Groups: Call routing to groups of users, for example when a designated number is dialed, will ring users who are part of the call response group.

Resources:

For more information on what is supported and what requirements are needed for this solution check out the configuration information in the VMware documentation Here.