Likelihood to Recommend Nvidia GRID is the only real ready-made hardware solution available for streaming game services, 3D graphics acceleration in Virtual Desktop Infrastructures, and 3D enhanced streaming apps. Grid is also great for processing large quantities of small data-sets, such as financial, trading, science, astronomy, and much more. Grid is also well known for digital currency mining, such as Bitcoin.
Read full review Parallels RAS can be used in many scenarios, It can be a VDI platform for desktop replacement and a move to a more central virtualized infrastructure. It can allow you to publish a cloud app that can be accessed from anywhere on nearly any device avoiding the need to install anything on device. I can see its value in Retail, Remote services, Manufacturing, schools, etc. anywhere with an internet connection. It adds a secure layer in front of RDP services. It can be used to allow secure access to desktops or laptops from outside the office if this is something you need to do
Read full review Pros Streaming Game Services. Dedicated graphics processing form virtual desktop infrastructures, allowing the use of Photoshop, CAD, Video Editing, and more. Enhanced computing & processing of data thay consists of large amounts of smaller data sets. Financial based calculations. Read full review 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. Automation through PowerShell is great. Support is usually quite fast and efficient. Read full review Cons The cost for Nvidia GRID capable hardware is still very high, but is & has been dropping fairly rapidly. Latency is a large problem for "interaction" based systems (Gaming, remote desktop use) and requires high-speed data, and hosting close to the client. No real solutions for smaller businesses, but cloud hosting providers like SoftLayer are beginning to offer affordable hosted grid-capable environments. Read full review Enable users' access to their personal computer drives when accessing the cloud services through Parallels RAS. Limiting and controlling the access to server resources for the users. Need improvement in managing the resolution of service accessed via RAS Client (works well via RAS Browser, though). Improve access to personal and organizational print and scanning devices from the cloud service. Read full review Likelihood to Renew 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
Read full review Usability You do not need to be an expert in IT to configure, manage or train anyone to use RAS. Everything about deployment was simple and straightforward although I do wish the integration with okta and SAML was there and it didn't require the use of Active Directory for certain parts of the deployment. We eliminated AD and use Okta exclusively but without the integration we are forced to setup local users and use WORKGROUP on the server. Not terrible, just not as streamlined or secure
Read full review Reliability and Availability 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.
Read full review Performance 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.
Read full review Support Rating 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
Read full review Online Training Documentation is fair but sometimes a little difficult to follow
Read full review Implementation Rating 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.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Nvidia invented the graphics processor, and continues to provide high quality products, even in a new industry
Read full review Compared to other offerings, including Citrix and MS plain RDS - this product provides a different level of experience. Its load balancing capabilities are simple to roll out, and an entire farm can be up and running in hours, NOT days. Its OS independence and minimum resource usage, along with its RDS server optimization policies, make it very resource efficient.
Read full review Scalability 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.
Read full review Return on Investment Allows us to simplify all of our VDI designs, as power users can be managed like all other cloud users, instead of requiring individual systems. Provides a way of offering a substantial processing increase for computing/calculations over and above what additional CPUs could offers. Offers the only "ready-made" solution for on-demand gaming services, after Sony purchased OnLive, and provides an affordable method for startups to enter the Industry. Read full review 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. Read full review ScreenShots Parallels RAS Screenshots