Many organisations adopted VMware Horizon to provide secure remote access to Windows applications. Today, many of those users no longer require a complete virtual desktop—they simply need secure browser-based access to one or more business applications.
WebStream ACP provides a modern application delivery model that publishes Windows applications directly to a standard HTML5 browser, reducing desktop management overhead while improving governance and user experience.
VMware Horizon virtualises desktops. WebStream ACP virtualises application access.
The way organisations deliver Windows applications has evolved. WebStream is not a replacement for every Horizon deployment. It replaces the Horizon deployments that exist solely to deliver Windows business applications.
| Era | Primary Technology |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Local Desktop Applications |
| 2012 | VPN + Remote Desktop |
| 2016 | VMware Horizon / Citrix VDI |
| Today | Governed Browser Application Delivery |
This is not a feature checklist. Horizon can publish applications. The difference is what you have to operate in order to do it.
| Capability | VMware Horizon | WebStream ACP |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Purpose | Virtual Desktop Infrastructure | Application Control Plane |
| Delivery Model | Desktop-first | Application-first |
| Browser Access | HTML5 option plus desktop ecosystem | Native HTML5 browser |
| Endpoint Software | Often Horizon Client | None |
| Desktop Images | Required | Not Required |
| Desktop Lifecycle Management | Required | Not Required |
| Published Windows Applications | Yes | Yes |
| Secure Browser File Upload / Download | Basic redirection | Native browser workflow |
| Browser PDF Printing | Printer redirection | Native PDF generation |
| Clipboard Governance | Limited | Policy-based |
| Session Governance | Desktop policies | Application policies |
| Best Fit | Desktop workspaces | Business applications |
Horizon remains the right platform for full desktop workspaces. WebStream ACP is the better choice when users need the application, not the desktop around it.
Choose Horizon when users require:
Choose WebStream ACP when users need:
without the overhead of managing complete virtual desktops.
Many Horizon environments were deployed to solve secure remote access. Over time they evolved into managing desktop infrastructure—when many users simply require access to a single Windows application.
Capacity, assignment, and entitlement modelled around desktops rather than the applications people actually open.
Image pipelines, patch cycles, and regression testing for a full Windows workspace just to reach one business app.
Profile management for a desktop environment users never needed as a workspace.
Provision, refresh, and retire virtual desktops as if every user were a knowledge-worker with a personal PC.
Horizon Client versions, endpoint compatibility, and helpdesk tickets that a browser session does not create.
OS and agent patching across the desktop estate, even when the workload is a single published application.
Deliver the application. Stop operating a desktop estate for users who never needed one.
WebStream ACP enables organisations to progressively modernise their application delivery strategy. Rather than replacing Horizon entirely, organisations can keep desktops where they are required and move everything else to the browser.
Continue using Horizon for users requiring complete virtual desktops.
Publish SAP GUI, ERP, and other business applications to governed browser delivery.
Reduce desktop pools, images, and lifecycle work over time as app users leave the VDI estate.
Users open a browser. There is no Horizon Client and no desktop session to broker.
Apply application policies to file transfer, clipboard, printing, and session behaviour.
Move the Windows application to AWS without waiting to rewrite it or rebuild a VDI stack in the cloud.
The desktop layer is what most Horizon application users never needed.
These are the Horizon-published applications that rarely need a full desktop around them.
The value is not another remote-desktop product. It is a smaller, more governed application-delivery estate.
Deliver applications instead of desktops.
Move legacy Windows applications to AWS without waiting for redevelopment.
Apply policy controls to file transfer, clipboard, printing and session management.
Reduce desktop image maintenance and endpoint configuration.
Continue running proven Windows applications while planning longer-term modernisation.
Tell us what your Horizon estate delivers today. We will be clear about where WebStream ACP fits—and where Horizon should stay. Prefer to give full detail? Use the full assessment form.
No. WebStream is not a replacement for every Horizon deployment. It replaces the Horizon deployments that exist solely to deliver Windows business applications. Keep Horizon for users who need a full virtual desktop.
VMware Horizon virtualises desktops. WebStream ACP virtualises application access. Horizon is desktop-first VDI. WebStream is an application control plane that publishes Windows applications to a standard HTML5 browser.
Yes. Continue using Horizon for users who require complete virtual desktops, and move line-of-business applications to browser delivery. The Horizon footprint reduces over time rather than being replaced overnight.
Not with WebStream ACP. Users access published Windows applications in a standard HTML5 browser. There is no endpoint client to install or maintain.
SAP GUI, ERP, warehouse management, manufacturing systems, finance and laboratory applications, and legacy stacks including VB6, Delphi, WinForms, PowerBuilder, Oracle Forms, and Microsoft Access.
Launch a WebStream Core Proof of Concept from AWS Marketplace and publish your first Windows application in less than an hour.