Amazon WorkSpaces is a managed, secure cloud desktop service. Amazon WorkSpaces removes the complexity in managing hardware inventory, OS versions and patches, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
$21
per month
BeyondTrust Remote Support
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
BeyondTrust Remote Support (formerly Bomgar) helps support teams of all sizes improve business performance by enabling secure, controlled remote support to nearly any device or system, anywhere in the world. BeyondTrust offers deployment options that can fit a company’s business needs. The vendor says their on-premises physical and virtual appliances have helped enterprises satisfy regulatory requirements for years. Additionally, the vendor says the unique segmentation capabilities of…
N/A
Parallels RAS
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS, formerly 2X RAS), is application virtualization technology, billed as a solution to extend the life of legacy OS (like Windows XP) with its virtual desktop for any device.
Maltese company 2X Software developed the technology, but was acquired by Parallels (in Seattle, WA) in February, 2015 to extend their cross-platform support solutions.
$120
per year per user
Pricing
Amazon WorkSpaces
BeyondTrust Remote Support
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)
Considered Multiple Products
Amazon WorkSpaces
No answer on this topic
BeyondTrust Remote Support
No answer on this topic
Parallels RAS
Verified User
Professional
Chose Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)
Parallels were much cheaper than all the other products we looked at, and licensing costs primarily were much more appropriate to our use cases. The overall lower complexity of RAS compared to the multitude of services and settings you're required to configure in Citrix was …
Chose Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)
Parallels Remote Application Server seems to be behind the offerings of both Amazon and Azure. Their product functions more as a traditional Windows Server application that just happens to run on the cloud or on-premise servers. Both Amazon and Azure's offerings are …
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)
Likelihood to Recommend
Amazon AWS
With a substantial free tier, AWS is a solution for fast, reliable and secure access to tools and workflows for any project. AWS is still the most intimidating cloud solution to approach. While there is no shortage to power and solutions, it is not for the faint of heart. It is easy to get lost while using AWS though the solution is there. Amazon WorkSpaces (VDI) requires an IT manager with experience deploying applications and building databases. Comparably, Parallels is a much easier UI to navigate, along with many open source and free options.
In our line of work, the ability to provide a seamless and fast forward approach to support is important. It reflects positively on our support staff and teams when we can resolve issues quickly and effectively whether that's on servers, workstations, mobile devices etc. We have found the software to not be as beneficial on Linux Servers.
Scenarios where time is a factor in having a solution in place and up and running safely and securely. Where there are older devices that ordinarily wouldn't be up to the task of running modern apps and services. Where users need to work away from the network, and security is a concern.
Remote access for macOS computers. We support primarily businesses that use Macs and good macOS support is very important.
Maintains logs and screen sharing videos of all sessions. It's peace of mind for us and also helps meet compliance standards that we can tell exactly what happened, every time we access a machine remotely.
Allows for easy management of hundreds of computers in a single app. We support hundreds of computers for dozens of companies. Finding the right computer to access is very easy and able to be done with just a few clicks.
The printing driver is quite excellent, both in the Parallels Client and on the HTML5 client.
Setup is incredibly easy; the default setup is very functional, and adding features is a breeze.
Speed is very acceptable in general for end-users, the clients adapt quite well to the amount of bandwidth available, and features are available to adjust further.
Only issue I really have is the jump client goes to queu when our remote vendors shut down their machine. Works in our favor if we lose our connection but that never happens. And this is such a small issue but had to put something in here.
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) continually improves the product but has broken some features recently. For example the web management portal lost the ability to manage user sessions after a major update. That issue was fixed in a later release
Multi-monitor support beyond 4 monitors (It does handle up to 4 -1080 monitors well)
More options around connection security and MFA. current options are sufficient but limited
We've noticed some performance issues with Windows Server 2019 and 2022. I'd like to see more robust support for remote applications running from those platforms.
Bomgar has improved the support we have given as an ICT department and improved the ICT department reputation within the organisation. We have had no issues with Bomgar as a product and it works well. The team at Bomgar are also a pleasure to work with, they follow up with us to see how they can help us use more of the features of the system and really take time to get to know their users and how they use the product.
We have been using Parallels since it was called 2X - it is a major part of how we do business. It is fairly simple to use and maintain - staff like it, we like it. It is a product that makes a promise - and it keeps it. As Parallels evolves, and clean bandwidth becomes more readily available everywhere - it just makes sense to continue to use Parallels in our environment
For its Primary purpose in our organization, providing developers and testers a clean, isolated and configurable environments which saves hours. The usability is nearly perfect. Usability is only suffering when user is into more intensive task like any kind of graphic works. At that time user is not experiencing the smoothness like a local machine
RemoteSupport has the most modern-looking interface I have seen. Its number of features, both nice to have and necessary, is better than any other competing solution on the market. They also prioritize security, so you can be confident that only the people you want accessing a given endpoint have access because their security can be configured to be role-based or as granular as you want.
Parallels RAS was easy to setup, with great admin guides and resources. We especially liked the included Visio templates which made diagramming much easier. The reference deployment diagrams also simplified our deployment process. Our end users love Parallels RAS. Apps launch faster than Citrix, and the Parallels RAS client is far more reliable than Workspace.
As far as uptime is concerned, Since Bomgar creates the Hardware and Software, they can make it the most reliable box in our datacenter, and they also have options for availability and redundancy that we didn't need to utilize, we have a manual fail-over process that we can invoke, but there are configurations that would allow for an automated failover as well.
If there are any issues with Parallels - they are usually more about the server operating systems than Parallels itself. It would be rare for us to have any reason to take Parallels offline - we schedule a reboot on the servers at 3am to keep the O/S itself fresh, but again - it is not a Parallels issue. If individual users have any issues we ask them to completely log out of parallels - which ends their session - and then back in - and that typically resolves the issue right away.
There is no lag-time at all, no matter how many users we have on the box, it is always entirely dependant on the customers internet speed (as we have a very fast connection), that is the only issue I've EVER seen with Bomgar, no matter how many sessions we run the box is always up, always fast, always working.
I am giving Parallels 9/10 on this one because the only application that sometimes seems slow or has issues - is Microsoft Outlook. It is sometimes the result of a pop-up that may not show up in the published application (vs full desktop). Other than that - pages load very quickly - and it does not seem to slow down other applications that are running at the same time. Most of our users run Outlook, softphone and Teams locally - and published applications for everything else. When they do that - it is very solid.
AWS support in general is pretty good, and WorkSpaces is no exception. We haven't had too much need for support but on the occasion we have, they've been quick to respond and helpful. Our issues have been resolved rapidly.
The support team at Bomgar always goes beyond the call of duty. No question seems to little or big for them to handle. They are there with you from the time you initiate a session or call with them until there is a resolution. You get awesome service. Their reps are always friendly and knowledgeable
Good support in place if required, very helpful when it comes to upgrades or any issues faced. The support team is knowledgeable, friendly, and quick to respond to issues The company also provides a range of online resources, including a knowledge base, documentation, and forums, which can be helpful before raising a ticket
we didn't have in-person training because their online training was so overwhelmingly well done. Start by looking at the docs: http://www.bomgar.com/docs/content/index.htm if that alone doesn't answer all your questions, there will be a window that pops up asking if you would like to chat with a sales representative, or a support engineer. Either of them can answer all of your questions as easily as if they were standing there with you, or talking to you on the phone, it is truly the power of Bomgar!
Since we have installed and been running Bomgar software for quite some time now, we have taken the opportunity to attend various web trainings, and they are always very prompt, informative and open to questions/discussions. We appreciate the work that Bomgar does to keep their customer community informed of new features and discussions of further product developments.
It was easy to get going. You have to pick your features to enable disable and then configure any customizations for the enabled features. It could not be easier to get started. The number of options can be a bit overwhelming at first
Overall, it was pretty simple compared to most other projects. Again, we had a strong familarity with the product so there was not much of a learning curve. Our 'biggest' issue is the end-user understanding of a 'local' application and a published application. For example - Online meetings need to run locally for camera/video to work smoothly so opening a link to a meeting from a published application continues to be an occasional issue.
Cisco AnyConnect is a VPN client and using a VPN can reduce the internet speed. It is not quite reliable as workspaces. Cisco AnyConnect is not at all optimised for linux machines. They suffer a lot from crashing and loss of internet speed. Workspaces works quite well even on linux machines
When we used Webex our customers often had issues because staff in medical offices don't always have easy access to browse the internet. We could send them an invitation but we would often go round and round with them. With BeyondTrust Remote [Support (Legacy)] we don't have that problem as it allows easy access for these customers.
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) provides the finest end user experience while being cost-effective and reducing administrative and support man hours. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is platform agnostic; it works with various kinds of devices (computers, phones, tablets) and several operating systems (Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.), allowing users to access it on gadgets of their choice.
Since the Bomgar Box is BOTH hardware and software, it can be purchased in any capacity deemed necessary, so scalability isn't an issue, Bomgar has the experience necessary to create a design that can support as many customer and agent sessions as you can throw at it. We have never had any issues with the Bomgar box and licenses that we have installed.
We added our Integrated Services Staff to parallels, with filtered, published applications - in a single afternoon. We added licensing and installed the desktop client software on multiple platforms both in the office and at remote sites all on the same day - and got remote users that had never used the product up and running - very quickly.
Our customers have had dramatic cost decreases due to no longer needing IT departments to work with our software.
We've been able to charge more for our hosting services due to our customers saving money in the long run. Parallels Remote Application Server has more than paid for itself, and the increased income has gone right back into the business.
Both our customers and our company have benefited from this transition.
