Amazon Web Services (AWS) announces the creation of a new Marketplace in the cloud for desktop Apps, making it easier for users to find and purchase desktop-based applications for Amazon WorkSpaces. Users can choose from a variety of more than 100 applications from 11 categories that require a monthly payment.

Additionally, AWS announced a new service dubbed WorkSpaces Application Manager (WAM), which packages and the delivers applications to WorkSpaces. This type of service ensures that applications are run in a way that makes them appear natively installed while they are wholly controlled by IT administrators to achieve a simplified system in maintaining and auditing the apps.

"With just a few clicks in the AWS Management Console, Amazon Workspaces customers are able to provision a high-quality, cloud-based desktop experience for their end users at half the cost of other virtual desktop infrastructure solutions," said Gene Farrell, AWS Enterprise Applications' General Manager.

Using WAM, apps can be subscribed to, marked as "required" for their automatic deployment and even updated and audited. Users are also given optional apps to provision themselves. Moreover, the manager can be used with both applications found in the Marketplace and those that are in-house.

Prior to the creation of the new Marketplace, the deployment of paid apps into WorkSpaces had to be managed and tracked separately. This time, however, bills are simply added to the monthly AWS bill.

Companies normally deploy at least 200 titles of software to their desktops. With the creation of WAM, it is easier for them to control and deploy applications according to demand. They can create and curate certain desktop-based applications and manipulate their user access. For their part, users can choose and install only applications they need, which are then tracked by administrators in real-time. This allows the company to solely pay for applications that are used by their employees. Businesses can also upload their own slew of business applications and enjoy full control of employee access.

"AWS is adding even more value to the Amazon WorkSpaces experience by helping organizations reduce the complexity of selecting, provisioning and deploying applications," said Farrell.