Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), among many other announcements, has bolstered its desktop app services with a new marketplace for apps and a tool for managing them.
These moves are a boost to Amazon WorkSpaces managed desktop computing service that was launched last year. It is described as a “cloud-based replacement for a conventional desktop” and allows users to access documents, applications, and other computing resources from multiple devices.
AWS now offers a Marketplace that allows users to find desktop apps for WorkSpaces. AWS Marketplace for Desktop Apps offers more than 100 programs across 11 business categories including security, productivity, collaboration, and business intelligence (BI), as well as illustration and design.
The company stated that Amazon WorkSpaces customers didn’t have an easy way to search and purchase applications for their Amazon WorkSpaces. Customers have been limited to purchasing perpetual or annual licenses for desktop software. These customers can now easily search for and purchase monthly subscriptions of popular desktop apps through AWS Marketplace.
An organization can also offer their own line of business apps to the AWS Marketplace, and employees can control their access.
The marketplace also announced the Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (Amazon WAM), a new tool that allows you to manage these apps and makes it easier to deploy them.
Amazon WAM “packages applications and delivers them to Amazon WorkSpaces so they run as though they were natively installed, but they are centrally managed by IT administrators for easier maintenance and auditability,” said the company.
AWS stated that enterprises often need to manage more then 200 desktop software programs. This includes the management, deployment, and retirement headaches.
Gene Farrell, an executive, stated that Amazon WorkSpaces customers can provision a high-quality cloud-based desktop experience at half the price of other virtual desktop infrastructure solutions with just a few clicks in AWS Management Console. AWS has added value to Amazon WorkSpaces by introducing the AWS Marketplace Desktop Apps and Amazon WAM. This will allow organizations to reduce the complexity of selecting, provisioning and deploying applications. Customers will save money on provisioning and maintaining apps for their workforce with pay-as you-go pricing and end-user self provisioning.
Microsoft Visual Studio and Python are two of the new desktop apps. They also include Microsoft Office and other office suites that allow for collaboration and productivity. Security tools from Zscaler Inc., IDM Security Solutions, and many other programs for design, illustration, and screen capture.