VMware Horizon Licensing Under Broadcom
Horizon was not retained by Broadcom. The End-User Computing business, including Horizon and Workspace ONE, was sold to KKR and now operates as Omnissa. The licensing position for existing customers is complex. Here is the current state.
Horizon, VMware's virtual desktop infrastructure product, was not retained by Broadcom after the acquisition. In early 2024, Broadcom divested the End-User Computing business — including Horizon, Workspace ONE, App Volumes, and the related EUC product family — to private equity firm KKR. The carved-out business was renamed Omnissa and now operates as an independent company.
For customers running Horizon or Workspace ONE, this means two things. The product is no longer a Broadcom relationship; it is an Omnissa relationship. And the licensing model has been substantially adjusted in the Omnissa rebuild, with transition arrangements for existing customers and new commercial models for new customers. This guide explains the current state.
The Omnissa carveout
The divestiture of EUC to KKR was announced in early 2024 and completed in mid-2024. The carved-out business includes Horizon (the VDI product), Workspace ONE (the device management and unified endpoint management platform), App Volumes (the application virtualisation product), and the related EUC tooling. The business operates under the Omnissa brand and is run as an independent company, not as a Broadcom subsidiary.
Existing VMware EUC customers were transitioned to Omnissa contracts over the course of 2024 and 2025. The transition involved novating existing VMware contracts to Omnissa, with the support and product-development relationship moving with them. For most customers, this was an administrative transition rather than a commercial renegotiation — the contractual terms continued with Omnissa as the counterparty.
Licensing model under Omnissa
Omnissa has continued to rebuild the EUC licensing model since the carveout. The current structure as of mid-2026:
Horizon
Horizon is sold under subscription pricing, typically per named user or per concurrent connection, with editions covering different feature sets. Perpetual Horizon licenses from the pre-divestiture VMware catalogue remain valid but, like other VMware perpetual entitlements, are without active SnS unless rolled into the new subscription model.
Workspace ONE
Workspace ONE is sold under subscription pricing, typically per device per month, with editions covering basic mobile device management through full unified endpoint management with advanced security features.
Anywhere Workspace bundle
Omnissa offers a combined Anywhere Workspace bundle that includes Horizon, Workspace ONE, and the related EUC components, priced per user. The bundle is the typical commercial centrepiece for customers using multiple EUC products.
What is no longer included with VCF or VVF
An important practical detail for customers planning VMware licensing: Horizon and Workspace ONE are not included in VCF or VVF. They were never part of the VMware vSphere bundle in the pre-acquisition catalogue, and they are not part of the Broadcom catalogue at all post-divestiture.
Customers building a private cloud on VCF who also need VDI must separately license Horizon from Omnissa. Customers running Horizon on top of VMware infrastructure license the Horizon product from Omnissa and the underlying vSphere infrastructure (or VCF, or VVF) from Broadcom. The two contracts are independent.
The two relationships are independent. Renewal calendars, audit rights, and support arrangements are all separate. Customers should plan the two contracts as parallel rather than coupled, even where the products run together in the same data centre.
Audit risk for Horizon customers
Horizon audit risk now comes from two directions. Broadcom retains audit rights on the underlying VMware infrastructure — vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and Aria components — under the customer's VCF or VVF contract. Omnissa has audit rights on the Horizon and Workspace ONE entitlements under the customer's Omnissa contract.
The two audits are commercially independent. A Broadcom audit on infrastructure licensing is not coordinated with an Omnissa audit on Horizon licensing. Customers should expect each vendor to enforce its own compliance position separately.
The Omnissa audit posture is still settling. The new commercial organisation is establishing its compliance methodology, and audit activity in the EUC space has been less aggressive than on the Broadcom side. This is likely to normalise as the Omnissa organisation matures.
What Horizon customers should do
Three practical actions for any customer running Horizon under the Omnissa transition.
First, confirm the contractual position. Existing VMware EUC contracts should have been novated to Omnissa. The customer should hold a current Omnissa contract or know the date by which their existing VMware contract was novated. Customers whose paperwork has not been completed should resolve this with Omnissa.
Second, plan the renewal calendar against two vendors. Broadcom's renewal for infrastructure and Omnissa's renewal for Horizon will not align. Building both into the procurement calendar prevents the standard surprises of separately-tracked vendor relationships.
Third, evaluate EUC platform alternatives if commercially relevant. The Omnissa change of ownership has produced a moment of renegotiation in the VDI market, and the alternative platforms — Citrix, Microsoft AVD, Amazon WorkSpaces — have actively pursued Horizon customers. The competitive context matters in any meaningful Horizon renewal.
Omnissa pricing structures in detail
The Omnissa pricing structure since the carveout has settled into three principal commercial routes for customers.
Per-named-user pricing
The traditional Horizon pricing route, retained under Omnissa. Each user authorised to use the VDI environment is licensed, regardless of concurrency. This is appropriate for environments where the user population is broadly stable and each user is a regular VDI consumer.
Per-concurrent-connection pricing
The alternative Horizon pricing route, also retained. Each concurrent VDI session is licensed, with the actual user count being less material. This is appropriate for environments with large user populations but low concurrent utilisation — shift-based workforces, occasional-user scenarios, kiosk-style deployments.
Anywhere Workspace bundle
The combined Omnissa offering, bundling Horizon, Workspace ONE, and the related EUC components per user per month. This is the strategic commercial centrepiece for customers using multiple Omnissa products, with bundle discounts against the standalone-product pricing.
The competitive landscape Omnissa is entering
The Omnissa rebuild has happened against a competitive backdrop that has shifted substantially during the same period. Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop has matured into a credible enterprise VDI platform. Amazon WorkSpaces has continued to develop its enterprise offering. Citrix has been through its own ownership and strategy changes, with continued strong enterprise position. The market position Omnissa inherits is competitive in a way the pre-acquisition VMware EUC market was not.
For customers, the implication is that the Omnissa negotiating environment is more competitive than the VMware EUC negotiating environment was. Customers reaching Horizon renewal events have credible alternative vendors actively pursuing the business, and Omnissa has commercial incentive to retain customers in the renewal motion. Renewal-time pricing on Horizon should be approached with the alternatives explicitly evaluated — not because most customers will actually migrate, but because the credible alternative changes the negotiating posture.
Workspace ONE alongside Horizon
Many enterprise customers run Horizon and Workspace ONE together — Horizon for VDI, Workspace ONE for endpoint management of the non-VDI devices (mobile, BYOD, traditional workstations). The Omnissa rebuild has emphasised the integration between the two, with the Anywhere Workspace bundle as the principal commercial vehicle for combined use.
For customers using both products, the commercial decision is whether to consolidate under the Anywhere Workspace bundle or to renew each product separately. The bundle pricing is generally favourable, but bundle commitments lock in both products simultaneously. Customers planning to migrate one of the products (Horizon to Azure Virtual Desktop, for example, while retaining Workspace ONE) need to structure the contracts to permit the migration without bundle penalty.
What changed with the Omnissa transition in 2025
Across 2025, the Omnissa rebuild stabilised. Key developments worth noting for customers reviewing the position in 2026.
Support quality, which had wavered during the carveout transition, returned to broadly the pre-acquisition VMware level by late 2025. The support organisation has been rebuilt under Omnissa with new contacts but with substantial continuity of staff from the pre-divestiture EUC team.
Product roadmap, which had paused during the transition, has been published clearly for Horizon and Workspace ONE for the next eighteen months. Feature development has resumed at broadly pre-acquisition pace.
Pricing, which initially mirrored the pre-acquisition VMware EUC structure, has begun to evolve under Omnissa's commercial direction. Specific SKUs have been repriced, the bundle structure has been adjusted, and the partner programme has been reorganised. Customers reaching renewal events in 2026 should expect commercials that differ materially from their previous VMware EUC contracts.
Related reading
For broader context, see the VMware licensing complete guide, the end of VMware perpetual licensing, Citrix versus VMware Horizon, and Broadcom VMware pricing 2026.