Access Point is a hardened Linux-based virtual appliance primarily known for its role in Horizon DaaS implementations as an internet-facing gateway for cloud tenants. In previous versions of Horizon, View Security Servers facilitated remote access to the VDI environment. Security Servers need to maintain a pairing with a View Connection Server, so typical implementations consist of at least two Connection Servers for internal connections, and two Connection / Security Server pairs for internet-facing connections. One of the limitations encountered with this architecture, which makes Access Point far more desirable, is the maximum of 7 Connection Servers in a Pod (See Table 5. Horizon 7 Configuration Maximums).

One of the key strategies behind Access Point is to adopt a secure virtual appliance architecture that can be used across both Horizon DaaS and Horizon 7, since these both have very similar external gateway requirements. For service providers, Access Point also allows for horizontal scaling and importantly deployments can be automated (See Section 10, References for further information on deployment), in addition to configuration using RESTful API.

Since service provider deployments of Horizon 7 with Access Point are not bound to Connection Servers, this allows for a very flexible approach to scaling out or scaling back. Access Point appliances can be deployed or destroyed as required.

Finally, security is an important consideration for enterprise tenants. Many tenants will not allow any authentication traffic to enter the tenant environment, and Access Point, residing in a DMZ, allows for multiple authentication methods including RSA SecurID, RADIUS and smart card.