Parallels RAS

Parallels RAS

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Top Rated
Score 8.9 out of 10
Top Rated
Parallels Remote Application Server

Overview

What is Parallels RAS?

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...
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Recent Reviews

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How Parallels RAS Differs From Its Competitors

Parallels RAS Simplicity

The central console allowed for a simplified deployment process, reducing the amount of time and resources we needed to set it up and to manage it during day to day use. Users had very little trouble adapting to using it and were quickly able to transition to working with it.
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Parallels RAS User Experience

We have users both on windows and mac across many different browser Edge , Chrome , Firefox , Safari. HTML5 support allowed every user despite what device and browser that they were on to just connect and begin working without hassle of hand holding or installing plugins. Users were able to just …
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

As an ESXI heavy company it was important to us that it could just connect without having to change vendors or do any hacks to get it working. Having a fully supported system was key to any product that we use. This helped us to reduce costs, improve performance, and simplify management by using …
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Parallels RAS Security

Granular permission policies can assign different levels of access to users, this limits only authorized individuals can access sensitive data or applications. This can help to prevent data leakage by limiting access to only those who need it. MFA is in use to ensure logins are from our users …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

Virtual accessibility of various application and desktops ensure it is time-saving, there is a collaborative work environment, and people share their ideas freely. More so, Parallels Remote creates a compliance work environment that is secure and more accessible. Finally, the simplicity of sharing …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

Our organization and our customers have absolutely benefited from the ease of use in setting up and delivering applications to end users. Simple access to these applications via HTML5 on any platform has broadened our customer reach and reduced costs for these customers.
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

Our company was able to use just HTML5 and RDS to host and distribute our applications. However, it's good to know there are many more technologies that Parallels Remote Application Server supports as our customer base and needs grow.
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Parallels RAS Security

The banking industry has very stringent rules on data access and Parallels Remote Application Server has been able to exist in this environment without any issues. We use granular permissions, AD accounts/groups, multi-factor authentication, TLS, etc all to create a secure environment for banking …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

As a smaller business with a very small IT team, we've obviously benefited greatly from the ease of use of Parallels. It's incredibly easy to onboard new administrators into using the console. It's also incredibly easy for those administrators to push new apps, provide new users, and just …
Continue reading

Parallels RAS User Experience

As our organization needs to distribute apps to a large and varied user base that may or may not have the ability to install a thin or fat client on their devices, the HTML5 gateway is probably the most common way our end-users use Parallels. The speed is adequate, and most important of all for …
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

We use Parallels in AWS, and the integration between RAS and AWS is perfectly adequate. We do not use many of the VDI features or any infrastructure outside of AWS, so I can't comment on the operation with Hyper-V or ESXi.
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Parallels RAS Security

TLS support is obviously a must in any organization, even for internal traffic. Support for TLS 1.2 and above is a business requirement for us as we need to distribute applications over the Internet, so it's obviously a great thing that the RAS gateway supports it. Multi-factor authentication is …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

Yes, Parallels RAS has enabled the delivery of specific specialized cloud services (desktop applications) to clients virtually. Coupled with Azure, It has helped remove the bottlenecks of traditional on-prem infrastructure and enabled secured access for the clientele across different organizations.
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Parallels RAS User Experience

Enabled access to Windows-based desktop services over Windows, Linux, Chrome, Android, and iOS devices in a seamless manner. HTML5 browser client is not a commonly used service due to the limitations of the browser.
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Parallels RAS Security

Parallels RAS Enables Simplified policies, security setup, SSL encryption for the clients, licensing management and the MFA. MFA using Microsoft Authenticator could be better.
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Parallels RAS Security

Based on various policies were able to create a hierarchy of security layers. Also, policies regarding user experience allowed us to deliver various modes in rural and urban settings.
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Parallels RAS User Experience

We benefited from HTML5 support by allowing our iPad users that do in-person customer service to access an important application they couldn't reach before. It saved them from having to call another team when they needed this information.
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Parallels RAS Security

The security aspect was critical in maintaining our cyber insurance, which requires (appropriately so) high levels of security. We wouldn't have implemented Parallels Remote Application Server if it was not strong in these areas.
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Parallels RAS Security

We find the granular permission in the RAS console very useful. We have users accessing our Azure server from multiple entities and can publish only the apps and resources we want to individual users and/or groups of users as we choose.
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

Consolidating our hundreds of users into a single platform supported by thin clients has made troubleshooting and issue reduction much simpler with far fewer instances of issues. Most users, when encountering an issue would simply reboot their thin client and self-resolve. This reduces the tech …
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Parallels RAS User Experience

I am part of a team responsible for maintaining our servers. I cannot tell you how many times we had servers get issues while I am on the train, or driving, or otherwise away from my laptop. Being able to pull out my phone and rdp into any server from the side of the road has been a life saver.
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Parallels RAS Security

We don't use most of these, but for the permission policies, we have used it to create department application folders, which are tied to Active Directory Security Groups. When IT Support is creating a new user, they just add that department SG to them, and that user is now fully set up with all …
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Parallels RAS User Experience

The ability to work strictly in the browser via HTML 5 means a lot because, in most organizations, users do not get to install the client. We often roll it out in HTML5. It works great no matter what device and the modern browser are used as the experience is very "uniform" across devices.
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

We heavily rely on our hypervisor partners and products, as most organizations now do. It gives us the ability to virtualize workloads and have copes replicated to DR sites which are tested regularly for availability. Being able to break the Parallels Remote Application Server license into …
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Parallels RAS Security

With release 18, Parallels Remote Application Server has a much better GUI for importing and using SSL certificates which everyone should be using. Along with its constantly expanding list of MFA providers, it has enabled us to secure our infrastructure much better than before. The ability to …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

I believe the ease of use is such a massive bonus of the product. It means that the support and install overhead is minimal compared to other options. We as a business benefit massively from this as it allows us to spend more time doing other things as well, and the product helps us work more …
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Parallels RAS User Experience

As a managed service provider with a limited staff, it means that we might have situations where we need to do work on the go. The HTML5 portal means we can quickly and securely access our required servers without wondering what else is on the machine. It's a product that really put ease and …
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

We tend to stick with Hyper-V as a hypervisor as the cost benefits outweigh our customer requirements at present. However, knowing we have the benefit of working with all hypervisors is great as it means we can adapt better to customer needs as and when we need to rather than having to change …
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Parallels RAS Security

The key component here is multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication is the key to any great security product as it means everyone can relax about compromised credentials. It's also becoming such a requirement now a product like this without it couldn't work. Also, the security …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

Our organization does benefit from the ease of use because almost all our technicians are able to deploy the solution and are certainly able to maintain and support it. Little to no formal training is needed for our juniors to get up & running with the workings of the product solution
Continue reading

Parallels RAS User Experience

While the added HTML5 functionality is a bonus when quick access is needed, in our configurations we mainly rely on the full client solution to provide a seamless deployment of the applications. On mobile devices, the HTML5 option does provide a quick solution to work "on the go". If the HTML5 …
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

For us Parallels RAS is HyperVisor agnostic, it does not really matter which is the underlying technology, we deploy on HyperV, VMware, ... This gives us the ease of mind that this is not something that has to be scoped during technical analysis and there doesn't need to be a upsell to switch to a …
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Parallels RAS Security

Especially the addition to making login possible via SAML and Azure Active Directory we switched to this method, this makes it possible to secure logins with the MFA capabilities of Microsoft Azure and its whole security stack behind it. This made the product much more secure and comes at no …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

I've found that our clients benefit from the intuitive central console when it comes to provisioning and onboarding new users. Compared to some competing solutions, the time saved getting a new user up and running with Parallels makes that first impression with the end user better, as well as …
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Parallels RAS User Experience

The flexibility in accessing the system from any platform, in particular the use of the HTML5 browser has allowed users to be productive in situations where they normally wouldn't be. Whether they are at home on a computer that they've don't normally use for work or away from the office and need …
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

The fact that Parallels Remote Application Server can be set up on a variety of hypervisors makes it easier to adopt for organizations with an established infrastructure. If a company already has a significant investment and expertise in HyperV or VMware, they can keep what they know and easily …
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Parallels RAS Security

Given the prevalence of malware that can move through a network over certain types of VPNs and definitely through unsecured RDP connections, having a secure, SSL-protected access layer that must be used to access any internal resources through Parallels immediately reduces the potential for …
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

The easy-to-use console allowed us to learn and implement the product within a week or so. Competitors would have taken weeks or months. It's easy to define apps and integrate with Active Directory in order to assign users/groups.
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Parallels RAS User Experience

We used the HTML5 client for testing only. It allowed our engineers to verify systems were working as designed from a variety of platforms without the hassle of installing software. We had a few users who used the HTML5 client, but most used the full (installed) client on Windows or Mac.
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Parallel RAS Flexibility

Parallels' agnostic approach to underlying Hypervisors simplifies the purchasing decision because it eliminates any worries about whether the software will perform as designed. We have used on VMware, XenServer, and Hyper-V. All worked just fine.
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Parallels RAS Security

Use of MFA is non-negotiable for access to our own or client's internal resources. It's our experience that this has foiled all nefarious attempts at accessing ours and our clients' systems.
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Parallels RAS Simplicity

We have been using Parallels Remote Application Server since 2005. We have migrated our setup over several server generations with little effort. The original setup has not much changed since. We have benefited from the ease of use.
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Parallels RAS User Experience

Corona made home office use necessary. Parallels Remote Application Server offers the HTML5-Gateway, so we were able to send users home and keep them connected without any installations or upgrades. Use on iOS or Android devices is not frequent but works well when needed.
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Parallels RAS Security

Except for one of our locations, all locations and computers connect via VPN. Connecting via Parallels Remote Application Server "distances" the users from our servers. There is no business data on local computers. Without certain knowledge, access to the servers without Parallels Remote …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Video Reviews

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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.parallels.com/eu/products/r…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting / Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $120 per year per user
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Product Details

What is Parallels RAS?

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is a remote work solution that provides secure virtual access to business applications and desktops on any device or OS—from anywhere. The platform offers an agile, cloud-ready foundation and end-to-end security fueled by a centralized management console with granular policies. Companies can leverage on-premises, hybrid, or public cloud deployments and integrate with existing technology like Microsoft Azure and AWS. With Parallels RAS, organizations gain the flexibility, scalability, and IT agility to quickly adapt to changing business needs. Parallels RAS offers a single, full-featured licensing model that includes 24/7 support and access to free training. The vendor states its key benefits include:

  • User experience—work from anywhere, on any device.
  • Enhanced data security and compliance—centralized management console with granular policies.
  • IT agility and business readiness—flexible hosting solutions to quickly scale and adapt.
  • Total cost of ownership—supports BYOD and includes a simple licensing model.
  • Always-on support—access to 24/7 support and free training.

Parallels RAS Screenshots

Screenshot of Parallels RAS supports on-premises, private and public cloud providers, including Azure and AWS, from a single console.Screenshot of The Parallels Web Client is accessible from any HTML5 browser or choose one of the many local clients.Screenshot of Parallels RAS integrates MSIX app attach for modern, dynamic app delivery.Screenshot of Parallels RAS supports multiple MFAs for security and flexibility.Screenshot of Issue and manage certificates in Parallels RAS with integrated Let's Encrypt security certificates.Screenshot of Expression-based filtering makes it easier to set policies in the Parallels RAS.Screenshot of Visual reporting in the Parallels RAS Management Console is used to monitor and troubleshoot issues.

Parallels RAS Videos

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) - Accelerated File Retrieval
Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) - FSLogix Integration
Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) - RDSH & VDI Local Storage Distribution

Parallels RAS Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac, Windows Server 2008R2, 2012/R2, 2016, 2022, Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10, 11
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android, Mobile Web, iPadOS
Supported LanguagesEnglish, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Parallels RAS starts at $120.

Citrix DaaS, VMware Horizon, and VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure are common alternatives for Parallels RAS.

Reviewers rate Availability highest, with a score of 9.3.

The most common users of Parallels RAS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews

(1-25 of 117)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The central console allowed for a simplified deployment process, reducing the amount of time and resources we needed to set it up and to manage it during day to day use. Users had very little trouble adapting to using it and were quickly able to transition to working with it.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Virtual accessibility of various application and desktops ensure it is time-saving, there is a collaborative work environment, and people share their ideas freely. More so, Parallels Remote creates a compliance work environment that is secure and more accessible. Finally, the simplicity of sharing information, which brings equality to the entire business performance.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our organization and our customers have absolutely benefited from the ease of use in setting up and delivering applications to end users. Simple access to these applications via HTML5 on any platform has broadened our customer reach and reduced costs for these customers.
September 15, 2022

Does what it needs to do.

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a smaller business with a very small IT team, we've obviously benefited greatly from the ease of use of Parallels. It's incredibly easy to onboard new administrators into using the console. It's also incredibly easy for those administrators to push new apps, provide new users, and just generally use the platform. The ease of use doesn't prevent more advanced users from using the PowerShell-based cmdlets for scripting and automation as well.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Yes, Parallels RAS has enabled the delivery of specific specialized cloud services (desktop applications) to clients virtually. Coupled with Azure, It has helped remove the bottlenecks of traditional on-prem infrastructure and enabled secured access for the clientele across different organizations.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Consolidating our hundreds of users into a single platform supported by thin clients has made troubleshooting and issue reduction much simpler with far fewer instances of issues. Most users, when encountering an issue would simply reboot their thin client and self-resolve. This reduces the tech support workload from spending all day troubleshooting various applications, to only needing to handle the occasional password reset. From an application server management standpoint, it has allowed us to provide department-wide access to new applications in minutes. No GPOs pushing software MSIs, no desktop visits to find out why this person or that's application is messing up. Just publish, test it for yourself, and then open it up to the users.
Ryan Snelson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
I believe the ease of use is such a massive bonus of the product. It means that the support and install overhead is minimal compared to other options. We as a business benefit massively from this as it allows us to spend more time doing other things as well, and the product helps us work more efficiently.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our organization does benefit from the ease of use because almost all our technicians are able to deploy the solution and are certainly able to maintain and support it. Little to no formal training is needed for our juniors to get up & running with the workings of the product solution
Brandon Barrett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
I've found that our clients benefit from the intuitive central console when it comes to provisioning and onboarding new users. Compared to some competing solutions, the time saved getting a new user up and running with Parallels makes that first impression with the end user better, as well as makes them more productive.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
The easy-to-use console allowed us to learn and implement the product within a week or so. Competitors would have taken weeks or months. It's easy to define apps and integrate with Active Directory in order to assign users/groups.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have been using Parallels Remote Application Server since 2005. We have migrated our setup over several server generations with little effort. The original setup has not much changed since. We have benefited from the ease of use.
iain Stephen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is definitely a good way to provide virtual and remote desktop access for specific users. VPNs are ok, but there are times when applications need the speed of a local area connection to function well, and Parallels certainly does allow the illusion of a local application that runs at network speeds since it is actually happening on the server. The central console is simple to understand and it's easy to add/remove users to available applications and resources.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It definitely streamlines the process of delivering apps remotely as well as setting up and using remote desktops. It's cross platform hardware capability is also a great feature in today's work environment with the proliferation of BYOD
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our company never had virtual desktops prior to using Parallels as the cost to set up seemed to be great when scoping Citrix or Amazon. Parallels is a great alternative and are compatible with many of our custom and aging systems
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