Cloud infrastructure vendor VMware has announced that VMware Horizon 7 and VMware Horizon will be simpler to set up, faster, easier to maintain and more flexible.

Version 7 of Horizon promises new features that VMware describes under the headings of just in Time Delivery, Blast Extreme, application life cycle management, smart policies and Integration with VMware Workspace ONE.

The new Just in Time Delivery option, a product of Instant Clone Technology (formerly Project Fargo) means managers can provision 2,000 desktops in under 20 minutes. Blast Extreme offers options for GPU off-load to increase scale and mobile network support. The new Application Lifecycle efficiencies promise to cut storage and operational costs by up to 70% and slash the time needed for managing images by up to 95%. Smart Policies and integration with VMware Workspace ONE will both improve management of internal resources.

Meanwhile VMware’s Horizon Air has a hybrid-mode that will pave the way for a simple out of the box set-up, the vendor says. Having achieved that, users can create and scale desktops faster, with new Instant Clone technology integrated with VMware’s App Volumes and User Environment Management technologies.

Another major advantage, according to VMware, is greater hybrid cloud flexibility. In practical terms this will mean that applications and desktop workloads can be moved back and forth from on-premises data centres to the cloud more effectively. The process will be managed from a consistent Cloud Control Plane and will support the use of the cloud as a primary system for everyday work, or as a secondary use case for desktop bursting or disaster recovery.

VMware Horizon 7 and VMware Horizon Air with Hybrid-mode are expected to be generally available before March 2016. VMware Horizon 7 pricing starts at $250 per user for on-premises perpetual licenses. VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-mode cloud subscription pricing starts at $16 per user per month for named users and $26 per user per month for concurrent connections.

“VMware Horizon Air will provide our team with the opportunity to scale desktops on an as needed basis with access to VMware’s public cloud in both Europe and the United States,” said user Jason Bullock, executive director of IT global infrastructure and support at BDP International.