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Simple setup, intuitive app virtualization product with an amazing ROI.
March 30, 2022

Simple setup, intuitive app virtualization product with an amazing ROI.

Chris Grogan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Parallels Remote Application Server

We have coded in-house applications to gather real-time information about our manufacturing process that is hosted on parallels RAS servers and accessed from the parallels client for windows, IOS, and android. We are predominantly a Citrix environment, but I shifted a third of our licensing off Citrix to Parallels mainly due to the cheaper cost of parallels licensing. Parallels are much faster from launch to load for our end users, easily by a factor of 3-4X versus our XenApp servers. Typically most endpoints using parallels are for data entry (either manual entry or tied in with USB/network data points), product labeling to direct thermal printers (USB mainly) or warehousing use (paired with Bluetooth scanners for counting finished products).
  • Very easy from an administrative perspective to setup a gateway / load balancing.
  • Extremely fast connection speeds for launching published applications.
  • Flexible security for deploying MFA to targeted users. On competitor's software, it is an on or off setting that applies globally.
  • The client UI for launching apps could use an overhaul, a tabbed approach with favorites or recently used applications would be better than a listing of all published applications.
  • GPO option to lockdown the client interface so that settings are persistent from an administrative perspective.
  • Due to the significantly cheaper cost of licensing compared to other RDP solutions, we have extended the reach of our systems to a significantly larger number of employees. It is literally a third of the cost to use parallels.
  • Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp)
Much easier to set up a Parallels farm than it is to set up a Citrix farm, cloud connectors, gateways, storefront servers, delivery controllers, machine catalogs, etc. I love how you can stand up a new Parallels server without having to leave the management console. I've had to literally hire consultants before to help stand up a Citrix environment due to the complexity of configuring a Netscaler to communicate with storefront, parallels setup is much more intuitive and faster to bring to production.
We typically didn't use virtual desktops before introducing RAS, but it was an easy adoption for us to move some of the manufacturing floor-level applications from published apps to a single virtual desktop deployed at parallels stations throughout the facility. Absolutely no issues with our end users in this approach and this includes many users who are not particularly computer savvy.
Our end users can't even tell the difference between connecting from a computer, iPad, or Android tablet. From an IT perspective, it is great as previous technologies had different methods for setting up the connection depending on the type of device being used. We haven't utilized the html5 gateway except in testing, but even that seemed intuitive.
We are a hyper-v shop, but I really can't imagine that it would function any differently on VMware. If there is some hyper-v specific feature set to RAS I am not aware of it, but certainly haven't noticed any configuration that was needed to be done in consideration of how our infrastructure is to get the RAS server working.
We absolutely love the MFA, it was simple to provision and assign and user adoption was seamless. Particularly great was the fact that the MFA could be turned on based on how the user was connecting or what group the user was in so that a tiered approach to introducing MFA was possible in our company.
I've used support a few times, they are quick to answer and get hands-on into the actual configuration and when needed have escalated and followed up on support questions that could not be answered without further log collection and analysis.

Do you think Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) again?

Yes

MySQL, Microsoft Exchange, Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp)
Standing up a Parallels environment is so incredibly simple compared to other remote desktop solutions I have used over the years. The fact that the gateway is so easy to configure and deploy is a great selling point. Also, love the fact that the licensing model is per concurrent user which makes it very competitive with the other players in the space. In a few years when the rest of my Citrix licensing expires, I will likely migrate the rest of our environment to Parallels and not look back!