New Horizon release delivers collaboration and control

Omnissa Horizon 8 2412 is packed with new features, updates, and innovation to give you more control of your virtual desktops and apps. This latest release introduces a range of capabilities to help you simplify workflows and improve security and collaboration across diverse platforms.  

Additionally, we are simplifying the transition to Omnissa licensing and rebranding to ensure a smooth experience for our customers. 

Improve efficiency, security, and collaboration with Horizon 8 2412

Horizon 8 2412 includes a variety of enhancements to make troubleshooting easier, strengthen security posture, and improve user experience with collaboration tools.

Strengthen security with automated Keylogger policy  

Keylogger protection has been improved by automating the activation process. When the policy is enabled on the agent side, the client prompts the end user with steps to enable the feature. This ensures that keylogger blocking is active, providing protection against keylogging threats and enhancing overall security. 

Simplify troubleshooting with display insights  
The Horizon Helpdesk Tool in the Horizon 8 console now gives admins direct visibility into display scaling data, including the number of monitors and scaling factors. Instead of requiring this information to be extracted from logs or remoting into end-user session access, this capability streamlines the troubleshooting process. Display information is easily accessible in the Helpdesk Tool, reducing the time and effort required to quickly identify and resolve issues related to user display configurations.   

Easily connect scanners with scanner redirection on Chrome  
Horizon now supports scanner redirection support for the Chrome Client, enabling end-users to connect and use local scanning devices within their virtual desktop or app environment as if they were directly connected. This capability helps ensure seamless access to scanners while delivering a consistent end-user experience. 

Enable FIDO2 WebAuthN through Linux Client  

This release introduces the FIDO2 Redirection feature for Linux client, allowing users to leverage local endpoint FIDO2 components in remote desktops and applications. This provides smooth integration and improved security across platforms by controlling WebAuthN application access in remote desktops. 

Experience more flexibility with individual app sharing in Teams on Linux endpoints 

Horizon now supports individual application sharing for Microsoft Teams in virtual sessions on Linux endpoints. This feature allows Linux users to share a specific app during a Teams meeting instead of their entire desktop. With the flexibility to share only relevant applications, you can maintain better control and privacy during collaboration. 

Improve multimedia performance with Browser Redirection for Linux VDI  
Horizon provides Browser Content Redirection (BCR) to deliver a more efficient solution for multimedia support. This feature allows applications to run directly on the endpoint browser, such as Chrome, instead of the virtual machine. By redirecting browser content to the endpoint, organizations can reduce data center traffic and virtual machine CPU usage for a smoother and more responsive end-user experience. The Horizon 8 2412 release supports this offload functionality from both Linux and Windows VMs. 

Enhance collaboration with screen sharing support for BCR  

To improve the end user experience on collaboration tools, Horizon expands BCR capabilities to include screen sharing for Chrome and Edge C on the Windows client. Users can now share their screens while using web-based conferencing applications like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Cisco Webex.  BCR reduces the server load, so users experience faster response times and reduced lag for an overall improved experience. 

Enable Horizon Cloud entitlement on-ramp for Linux Clients 

Horizon 8 2412 enables end users to access entitlements for both Horizon 8 and Horizon Cloud Service (HCS) from a Linux client. Log in to the on-premises Horizon connection server just once, and you’ll also gain access to the same entitlements in the cloud, without multiple URLs or additional logins. End users can authenticate via the Horizon Client for Linux, receive their Horizon 8 entitlements, and subsequently access their Azure entitlements within Horizon Cloud Next-Gen using a JWT token.  

Gain comprehensive network visibility for Mac Client 

Workspace ONE Experience Analytics for Horizon provides customers with insight to the digital employee experience for Horizon environments, enabling customers to measure and analyze user experiences across their virtual desktop and apps.  Previously available for Windows clients, Horizon expands its analytics capabilities by collecting LAN/WAN latency metrics directly from the Mac client. This allows admins to monitor network performance, capture delay information, and remediate for an improved employee experience.  

Ease management and enhance flexibility

The Horizon 8 2412 release delivers new capabilities that let admins more efficiently manage environments and improve performance. From expanded support for Horizon 8 with Amazon WorkSpaces Core to improved pool and app migration and Unified Access Gateway enhancements, this release streamlines workflows and reduces operational complexity. 

Discover the latest enhancements in Horizon 8 with Amazon WorkSpaces  

New features in Horizon 8 with Amazon WorkSpaces Core give you enhanced flexibility, cost efficiency, and security. Use the Amazon WorkSpaces Windows Server BYOP (Bring Your Own Protocol) to create custom server OS images for single-session desktops or manual farms, without importing a Windows 10 or 11 operating system. Admins also benefit from idle timeout settings for dedicated power-optimized pools, reducing costs by minimizing resource consumption during periods of inactivity. 

The release also supports hybrid environment delivery by allowing Horizon 8 pods to be used outside of Amazon EC2 for capacity bursting and disaster recovery. Expanded support for manual farms, multi-session hosts, and published desktops and apps gives you flexible deployment options tailored to your specific environments. Lastly, Horizon 8 now supports FIPS 140-2 compliance and DoD IL6 environments, meeting stringent security requirements for U.S. federal organizations. For more information, explore the full blog detailing these updates. 

Figure 1. Horizon 8 on Amazon WorkSpaces Core optimizes cost by turning off idle resources and allowing power management schedules to be set.

Ensure consistent performance with persistent FPS across Instant Clones   
Horizon now enables Frame Per Second (FPS) settings to persist across Instant Clone virtual machines (VMs) that use vGPUs. With this enhancement, customers can set their desired frame rate, and the configuration will remain consistent even after Instant Clone refreshes. This provides greater flexibility to optimize frame rates for specific workloads and ensures high-performance across VMs. 

Streamline app management with farm-to-farm app pool migration  

Horizon 8 2412 introduces the ability to move app pools from one farm to another, eliminating the need to re-publish app pools and manually re-entitle users.  This feature reduces management overhead, while maintaining end-users shortcuts and favorites during the migration process. Admins can migrate all app pools at the farm level or move individual apps as needed, streamlining app deployment and minimizing disruptions in production environments. 

Improve session control with configurable reconnect behavior for nested mode  
Horizon now allows admins to configure the reconnect behavior for nested mode, providing them with greater control over client behavior. In nested mode scenarios—where a VDI desktop is the first hop, and a published app is launched as the second hop – end users can connect directly to the app when switching endpoints.  This capability ensures users are properly redirected to the VDI desktop for second hop access, while providing admins with more control over application workflows in nested environments. 

Reduce security risks with improved Unified Access Gateway for Horizon  
Unified Access Gateway (UAG) now enhances deployments with the removal of non-essential service bundles. By running the required Horizon components within the UAG, administrators reduce vulnerabilities and the security footprint. This enhancement reduces exposure to Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), providing a more secure deployment for Horizon environments. 

Automate UAG provisioning and upgrades with Terraform  

Building on the capabilities of automating the installation and upgrade processes for Horizon Connection and Enrollment Server introduced in the Horizon 8 2406 release, we’re extending Terraform support to further enhance automation and simplify infrastructure management. This update includes new Terraform scripts to automate the provisioning and upgrading of Unified Access Gateways (UAGs). The integration offers a predictable, scalable, and repeatable approach to managing UAGs, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency.  For more information and sample scripts, visit GitHub. 

Expanded authentication options with OIDC support  
Also added is support for OpenID Connect (OIDC) as an authentication method for Unified Access Gateway (UAG). Customers can adopt OIDC as an alternative to SAML, offering greater flexibility and additional options for authentication protocols. 

Easing your transition to Omnissa branded products and licensing  
Horizon is now fully rebranded as Omnissa Horizon, and we’re making the transition seamless as you upgrade. First, we are extending the End of Life (EOL) for Horizon 8 2212.x by six months, giving customers additional time to plan their upgrade. Visit KB6000697 for more information. Additionally, the Horizon 8 2503 release will serve as the Next Extended Service Branch (ESB), giving customers more time to prepare for the transition. Lastly, we are introducing a new licensing module in Horizon 8 2412 and will provide new licensing keys through the Omnissa portal. To help during the transition period, both old and new keys will be accepted for 60 days. For additional guidance on the license transition for Horizon 8 2412, visit KB6000212. 

Conclusion

That wraps up the Horizon 8 2412 release highlights. Built to simplify management, strengthen security, and enhance collaboration, this update provides the tools your organization needs to operate more efficiently.  With its full transition to Omnissa branding, it introduces a range of updates designed to meet the demands of modern virtual environments.    

For a deeper dive into everything this release has to offer, explore the complete list of features by reviewing the Horizon 8 2412 release notes. 

And keep in mind that by upgrading to our Horizon subscription license, you’ll always have access to the latest features as they’re released. Download version 2412 by visiting Omnissa Customer Connect.