VMware Rolls Out Horizon Mail via Google Play

VMware (NYSE: VMW) has rolled out VMware Horizon Mail as part of its Horizon Mobile initiative, as the virtualization vendor looks to push its technology deeper into the mobility space.

Horizon Mail, available via a download on Google Play, is a native Android application that enables users to access their corporate email, contacts, calendar and more on their Android-based mobile devices. It is the latest iteration of what was called VMware Zimbra for Android, which the company made available as a “fling” –or technology the company encouraged users to play with but was not guaranteed to be released as a product offering.

“Based on customer feedback, we decided to productize and release the app via Google Play,” said Srinivas Krishnamurti, senior director for Mobile Solutions in VMware’s CTO Office, in a blog post. “This will also be the default email/PIM client for our VMware Horizon Mobile initiative.”

According to the company, Horizon Mail supports any Microsoft ActiveSync-compliant email server and the VMware Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Some of its features include:

The availability of Horizon Mail as a full-fledged offering helps round out VMware’s Horizon Mobile, which has gained some attention among device manufacturers. In November the company announced Motorola will ship smartphones in Japan that include Horizon Mobile run through wireless carrier Softbank Telecom as a managed cloud service. The technology was introduced at VMworld 2011, and LG and Samsung already have mobile phones running the Horizon Mobile platform.