Desktop and Application Streaming
Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (Amazon WAM) is retiring
Retiring Amazon WAM
Since launching Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager in 2015, we have accelerated our pace of innovation in AWS End User Computing (EUC). We have launched new services, added additional features, and expanded our global community of partners. Our customers tell us that they need application management solutions that can scale to support all their EUC use cases. With the increased role that additional AWS services, AWS Partner solutions, and AWS Marketplace offerings are playing to help our customers build and innovate, we are retiring Amazon WAM, along with the AWS Marketplace for Desktop Apps. This decision helps us continue to innovate with new application management services and features that address customer EUC use cases now, and in the future. We are retiring Amazon WAM on September 1, 2023.
We are working with Amazon WAM customers and we are committed to making the transition as smooth and non-disruptive as possible. In addition to notifying customers to provide plenty of lead time, we are providing recommendations on alternative application management solutions.
AWS has partnered with Numecent to migrate your Amazon WAM applications to Numecent Cloudpager automatically. Cloudpager is available via the AWS Marketplace. Cloudpager enables all Windows applications and container formats to lift and shift to Amazon WorkSpaces. This also includes applications that are not inherently compatible with Desktop as a Service (DaaS). With this partnership, you will be able to continue using your Amazon WAM applications and deliver them to Amazon WorkSpaces. See the Numecent press release for more information. To request automated migration of your Amazon WAM applications to use with Numecent Cloudpager, contact AWS Support.
Timing
Amazon WAM is reaching end of life and will no longer be available starting on September 1, 2023 — the End of Life (EOL) date. As a current subscriber, your existing subscription and packages will be unaffected until the EOL date. Starting today, new subscriptions to Amazon WAM are no longer available. Visit the Amazon WAM End of Life FAQs for more information.
Here are the important milestones and dates as we prepare for the retirement of Amazon WAM on the EOL date:
- September 1, 2022
- No new features will be added to Amazon WAM. New subscriptions to Amazon WAM will not be available. Existing customers will be able to continue using Amazon WAM at their current subscription levels. We will offer technical support for existing customers until the EOL date.
- AWS Personal Health Dashboard and email notifications will be sent to existing Amazon WAM customers announcing Amazon WAM retirement.
- March 1, 2023
- AWS Personal Health Dashboard and email notifications will be sent to existing Amazon WAM customers announcing Amazon WAM retirement.
- June 1, 2023
- AWS Personal Health Dashboard and email notifications will be sent to existing Amazon WAM customers announcing Amazon WAM retirement.
- September 1, 2023
- On this date, the Amazon WAM service will no longer be available for use.
- Proactive AWS Personal Health Dashboard and email notifications will be sent to existing Amazon WAM customers announcing imminent retirement of the Amazon WAM service.
Affected customers and resources
Action is only needed from Amazon WorkSpaces customers who are using Amazon WAM. The retirement of the Amazon WAM service will affect customers with Amazon WAM Lite or Amazon WAM Standard subscriptions who are using Amazon WAM to deliver applications to their WorkSpaces users, or sharing Amazon WAM application packages with other AWS accounts.
Alternative application management solutions and resources
In addition to Numecent Cloudpager as a direct substitute to Amazon WAM for existing Amazon WAM applications, customers have access to other AWS Partner and AWS Marketplace technology solutions and other AWS services to manage applications on Amazon WorkSpaces. The following is a sampling of resources available for customers to review as alternatives to Amazon WAM:
- The It’s Time to Evolve: End User Windows Application Delivery In the 2020s whitepaper outlines approaches to bring efficiency to the management of an end user Windows application portfolio delivered using AWS End User Computing (EUC) services.
- The Best Practices for Deploying Amazon WorkSpaces whitepaper covers network considerations, directory services and user authentication, security, and monitoring and logging. Customers can deploy applications to their WorkSpaces by using their existing configuration management and deployment tools, such as Ansible, Chocolatey, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), or Puppet Enterprise.
- AWS Systems Manager is the operations hub for AWS. Systems Manager provides a unified user interface so customers can track and resolve operational issues across their AWS applications and resources from a central place. With Systems Manager, customers can automate operational tasks for resources such as Amazon WorkSpaces.
- Find AWS Digital Workplace Competency partners, including application management solutions that manage provisioning, protecting, or gathering intelligence from web applications, desktop client operating system applications, or mobile device applications.
History of Amazon WAM
In 2015, following the global launch of Amazon WorkSpaces a year earlier, we launched Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (Amazon WAM) and the AWS Marketplace for Desktop Apps. The goal was to help customers to manage and deliver open source, in-house, and commercial (licensed) desktop applications to their WorkSpaces.
The AWS Marketplace for Desktop Apps launched with an initial set of over 100 applications in multiple categories. Customers put Amazon WAM to use right away to package, subscribe, and deploy applications using the application virtualization technology. Amazon WAM simplified the administration of WorkSpaces images and bundles for customers, since apps did not need to be installed into an image. Customers used Amazon WAM to manage application entitlement, and authorize their users and groups to applications in a pay-as-you-go model.
Moving ahead
In 2016, we launched Amazon AppStream 2.0, a fully managed non-persistent application service for remotely accessing work. AppStream 2.0 provides customers with capabilities to manage and deliver desktop applications. AppStream 2.0’s elasticity for memory, compute, and graphics optimized instances helps customers deliver great application experiences when and where they are needed.
Tens of thousands of customers use WorkSpaces and AppStream 2.0 to build and innovate with agile desktop and application workloads for hundreds of thousands of users. Customers have built fully automated image pipelines using AppStream 2.0 to keep desktop applications up to date. In addition, customers use a variety of open-source, commercial, and AWS Partner and AWS Marketplace technology solutions to manage desktop applications for WorkSpaces and AppStream 2.0.
In 2020, we doubled down on the value AWS Partners bring to customers when we launched the AWS Digital Workplace Competency. This competency program helps customers find highly specialized AWS Partners who offer solutions on AWS that effectively support remote workers and business continuity. One of the competency categories is application management. This competency focuses on helping customers find solutions that manage provisioning, protecting, or gathering intelligence from web applications, desktop applications, or mobile device applications.
In late 2021, we launched Amazon AppStream 2.0 Elastic fleets for customers. Elastic fleets deliver applications without the need to predict usage, create and manage AWS Auto Scaling policies, or create images. AWS services including AWS Systems Manager, and AWS Partners now offer support and resources for delivering applications using AppStream 2.0 Elastic fleets. Customers are increasingly using web applications to get work done instead of desktop applications, so we launched Amazon WorkSpaces Web. WorkSpaces Web is a low-cost, fully managed remote web browser built to facilitate secure access to internal websites and software as a service (SaaS) applications. With WorkSpaces Web, you do not have the administrative burden of appliances or specialized client software.
We’re here to help
We are committed to making the transition from Amazon WAM as smooth and non-disruptive as possible. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions, challenges, or concerns.