Horizon Cloud Use Case Calculator

Analyze the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and potential savings of moving your desktop infrastructure to VMware Horizon Cloud.

What is a horizon cloud use case calculator?

A horizon cloud use case calculator is a tool designed to model the financial implications of adopting a Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution, specifically VMware’s Horizon Cloud. Instead of just looking at licensing fees, this calculator helps you estimate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by factoring in critical variables like the number of users, workload types, and existing IT overhead. The primary goal is to provide a data-driven basis for comparing the cost of your current desktop management strategy against the operational expenses of a cloud-based approach. It is intended for IT managers, financial analysts, and business leaders who need to justify infrastructure investments and understand potential ROI.

Common misunderstandings often revolve around thinking DaaS is simply about moving desktops to the cloud. A proper analysis, as performed by this horizon cloud use case calculator, reveals it’s about transforming operational efficiency, improving security, and enabling flexible work models. One key aspect that is often confusing is how to correctly calculate the VDI cost comparison, which involves more than just server costs.

The Horizon Cloud TCO Formula and Explanation

The calculator uses a simplified Total Cost of Ownership model to estimate your monthly expenses. The core idea is to sum up the new cloud infrastructure costs while subtracting the savings gained from reduced IT management overhead.

Formula:

Est. TCO = Monthly Cloud Infrastructure Cost + (Current IT Cost - IT Management Savings)

This formula highlights that the true cost isn’t just what you pay the cloud provider; it’s a balance between new expenses and existing efficiencies. Many organizations find that the DaaS benefits of reduced management can significantly offset infrastructure spend.

Variables Table

Description of the inputs used in the horizon cloud use case calculator.

Variable	Meaning	Unit	Typical Range
Number of Users	Total potential user base for the VDI environment.	People	10 – 10,000+
User Profile Multiplier	A factor representing the resource needs of different user types.	Ratio	1.0 – 2.5
Concurrency Rate	The percentage of users logged in simultaneously during peak hours.	Percentage (%)	50% – 95%
Cost per VM per Hour	The estimated cost of a single virtual machine from a public cloud provider. This is a critical input for any Azure Virtual Desktop pricing analysis.	Dollars ($)	$0.10 – $1.50
Current IT Admin Hours	The labor effort currently spent on managing physical desktops.	Hours / Month	40 – 1000+
IT Admin Hourly Rate	The blended cost of IT labor.	Dollars ($)	$30 – $100

Practical Examples

Example 1: Small Business with Knowledge Workers

A marketing agency with 50 employees, all considered knowledge workers, wants to evaluate Horizon Cloud. They have a high concurrency because most work a standard 9-to-5 schedule.

• Inputs:
  • Number of Users: 50
  • User Profile: Knowledge Worker
  • Concurrency Rate: 90%
  • Cost per VM per Hour: $0.30
  • Current IT Admin Hours: 80
  • IT Admin Hourly Rate: $60
• Results:
  • Concurrent Users: 45
  • Estimated Monthly Cloud Cost: ~$4,860
  • Estimated Monthly IT Savings: ~$2,880 (assuming 60% saving)
  • Estimated Monthly TCO: ~$6,840

Example 2: Large Enterprise with Mixed Use Cases

A large company with 2000 users wants to provide desktops for a call center (Task Workers) and its engineering team (Power Users). For this estimate, we’ll use an average profile (Knowledge Worker) and a lower concurrency due to 24/7 shifts.

• Inputs:
  • Number of Users: 2000
  • User Profile: Knowledge Worker (as an average)
  • Concurrency Rate: 60%
  • Cost per VM per Hour: $0.20
  • Current IT Admin Hours: 600
  • IT Admin Hourly Rate: $45
• Results:
  • Concurrent Users: 1200
  • Estimated Monthly Cloud Cost: ~$43,200
  • Estimated Monthly IT Savings: ~$16,200 (assuming 60% saving)
  • Estimated Monthly TCO: ~$54,000

How to Use This Horizon Cloud Use Case Calculator

Follow these steps to generate a customized TCO estimate for your organization:

1. Enter User Numbers: Start with the total number of users you need to support.
2. Select a Profile: Choose the user profile that best represents the majority of your workforce. Power users consume more resources and cost more, while task workers are less expensive.
3. Define Concurrency: Estimate the peak percentage of users online at once. A call center with shifts might have 50-60% concurrency, while an office-based company might have 80-90%. This is a key factor in VDI cost comparison.
4. Estimate VM Cost: This is a crucial variable. Use your cloud provider’s pricing calculator (e.g., Azure, AWS) to find the hourly cost for a VM that matches the selected user profile.
5. Input Current IT Costs: Be realistic about how many hours your team spends on patching, help desk tickets, and managing physical PCs today, and input their average hourly rate.
6. Analyze the Results: The calculator will show the estimated monthly TCO, the direct cloud infrastructure cost, and the potential savings from reduced IT administration. Use the chart to visually compare this to your current operational costs.

Key Factors That Affect Horizon Cloud Costs

• User Workload Profiles: The type of applications users run (e.g., office apps vs. CAD software) is the biggest driver of VM size (vCPU, RAM, GPU) and, therefore, cost.
• Concurrency: Sizing for 1,000 users who work in shifts is much cheaper than sizing for 1,000 users who all log in at 9 AM. Non-persistent desktops can optimize for this.
• Cloud Provider Choice: The same VM can have different prices on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. Reserved instances can offer significant savings over pay-as-you-go pricing. This is central to understanding VMware Horizon features on different clouds.
• Network Egress Costs: While not included in this calculator, be aware that transferring large amounts of data out of the cloud can incur extra fees.
• Software Licensing: This calculator focuses on infrastructure and IT labor. Remember to account for Windows, VDA, and application licensing, which can be a significant part of the total cost. You may need to explore options with your VMware licensing explained partner.
• Geographic Region: Cloud costs vary by data center region. Deploying desktops closer to your users can reduce latency but may impact cost.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between VDI and DaaS?

VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) is the technology, while DaaS (Desktop as a Service) is the delivery model. With traditional VDI, you manage the infrastructure yourself on-premises. With DaaS like Horizon Cloud, a vendor manages the control plane and infrastructure for you, and you pay it as a service.

Is this calculator a final quote?

No. This is an estimation tool designed for strategic planning. A final quote requires a detailed analysis of your specific applications, security needs, and a formal pricing exercise with your chosen cloud provider and VMware.

How does the ‘User Profile’ affect the cost?

A Power User requires a more powerful (and expensive) virtual machine than a Task Worker. The calculator uses a multiplier to adjust the baseline cloud cost per VM to reflect this, providing a more realistic estimate.

What is a typical concurrency rate?

For standard office environments, 80-90% is a safe estimate. For organizations with multiple shifts, remote workers across time zones, or part-time staff, the rate can be much lower, often between 50-70%. Lower concurrency directly translates to lower costs.

Can I use this for an on-premises Horizon deployment?

This calculator is specifically tuned for Horizon Cloud (DaaS). An on-premises calculation would need to replace ‘Cost per VM per Hour’ with upfront capital expenditures for servers, storage, and networking hardware, which is a different TCO model.

How are IT Management savings calculated?

The calculator assumes a default 60% reduction in time spent on routine desktop management tasks (patching, hardware failures, new user setup). This is a conservative industry average, as DaaS centralizes management and eliminates many physical endpoint issues.

Does this calculator include software licensing costs?

No, it does not. It focuses on the infrastructure and operational labor components of TCO. You must add costs for Microsoft Windows, Horizon Universal Subscription, and any other applications separately.

How important is the ‘Cost per VM per Hour’ input?

It is extremely important. This is the single most significant cost variable. It’s highly recommended to use the official pricing calculator from your preferred cloud vendor (like Microsoft Azure or AWS) to get an accurate estimate for this field.

Related Tools and Internal Resources

As you plan your move to a modern digital workspace, these resources can provide further insight:

• VDI Cost Comparison: A detailed whitepaper on the financial differences between on-premise and cloud-hosted desktop solutions.
• Cloud Desktop Security: Learn about the best practices for securing your remote workforce with Horizon Cloud.
• Azure Virtual Desktop Pricing Guide: An analysis of factors to consider when deploying virtual desktops on Microsoft Azure.
• Understanding VMware Horizon Features: A breakdown of the different features available in the Horizon suite.
• Remote Workforce Solutions Case Study: See how a large enterprise successfully deployed DaaS to 5,000 employees.
• DaaS Benefits Overview: A high-level look at the strategic advantages of moving to a Desktop-as-a-Service model.