TrustRadius Insights for Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Flexibility in User Management: Users have appreciated the system's ease of adding and removing users for project assignments, making transitions between projects smooth and efficient. The flexibility allows for seamless adjustments to team compositions and roles as needed.
Security Effectiveness: Customers have commended the system for its effectiveness in protecting organizational information, providing a secure environment for data. This robust security measure instills confidence in users regarding the safety of sensitive company data.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Reviewers highlighted the straightforward infrastructure scaling process as user-friendly, improving overall operational efficiency. The simplified scaling procedures contribute to a more streamlined and productive workflow within organizations.
We use Parallels Remote Application Server to allow organizational access to traditional and legacy Win32 style applications. This would include legacy ERP software, older Microsoft Access front ends, and more. Generally, as Remote Desktop Services environment, with significant quality of life enhancements over Microsoft's basic implementation, such as web-based administration and easier delegation of administrative tasks.
Pros
High Visibility of Users, Sessions and Performance
Client is Easy to Install and Configure
Good HA Options, or Active Standy-by HA Option
Functionally Equivalent Web Interface for Management
Cons
Support beyond email is hard to get - typically it's sending log after log when a remote session would have solved it much faster
Need to perform a full Version Update every 18 months
iOS app does not support kerberos
Likelihood to Recommend
Lots of administrative quality of life improvements over Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. If you still need to run Win32 apps, or have an old RDS deployment, Parallels is probably for you.
My favorite quality of life improvement is the highly functional Web Admin Console. Additionally, there are good monitoring and history if you configure those servers. You also get a active/standby HA option that requires no deployment of HA appliances or HA backend databases.
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) to optimize our AWS resources. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to use a frontend that is much more user-friendly than the native one provided by AWS itself. Furthermore, Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) allows us to optimize the usage time for our users without having to implement these policies in AWS.
Pros
Native client application
Browser usibility
AWS as provider
Cons
Right Management on VDI level
Possibility to use multiple AWS Provider in same farm
Possibility to use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) in offline mode in non-productive environment
Likelihood to Recommend
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) can be installed and configured quickly. The documentation is very well described, and the ability to connect to many infrastructures such as Azure, AWS, VMware, and Hyper-V offers great flexibility in choosing one's own favorites. Furthermore, there are good videos and know-how articles available on the internet. So far, we are very satisfied.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Research & Development (10,001+ employees)
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) to easily connect from internal or external to our server farm. We had to make a decision because of the corona crisis and we had to look for a easy solution for home office activities. So we decided to work with Parallels RAS because it has a good pricing and it is easy to configure.
Pros
secure connection
multiscreen
connect policies for different departments
Cons
configuring multi factor authentication for third party products was a little bit difficult
teams integration
redirection of camera and microphone from applications
Likelihood to Recommend
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is well suited for companies who wants to have a good priced solution for remote connections or home office activities which is also easy to configure. There is no difficult licensing like on other brands you have on this market When you by a Parallels RAS license, you can use all included features.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (201-500 employees)
We exclusively use it to allow team members to use quickbooks from home. QB over vpn is not supported but using vpn to access RAS and QB as a published app is an extremely efficient way to manage QB deployment and updates and allows QB to run fast no matter what devices are accessing it.
Pros
Streamlines connectivity to published apps
Simple setup
Simple licensing
Cons
Integration with Okta for SSO
Wish it didn't require the use of Active Directory for certain features
Lower the minimum user count for licensing
Likelihood to Recommend
Works perfect where you need multiple people to access software remotely and the software has a centralized database or file that is stored on the RAS server and vpn is not an option because of performance / reliability reasons. Also eliminates the need to install the same software on multiple user devices and have to deal with managing updates constantly.
VU
Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology (51-200 employees)
We use Parallels Remote Application Server for our external job sites, home offices and remote workplaces.Started with 3 now 35 licenses.
Pros
Easy to use
Fail-safe
Cons
Customizable configuration interface
Improved Linux client
Likelihood to Recommend
For our use, the product is very good, we use only a fraction of the included functions. In contrast to the competitors, Parallels Remote Application Server is a great product.
Parallels RAS is in use in our company for several years. It is used together with DeenNeet DualShield Authentication server to provide 2FA secure access to those corporate servers which should not be exposed directly to the Internet due to sensitive data stored there. Users are able to access the sensitive data from any point. Parallels's comprehensive server/feature management allows our IT department to be very flexible.
Pros
Centralized servers status view (memory, disk, CPU)
Flexible permissions (users, groups)
Possibility to customize the corporate WWW portal view
Cons
It would be great to have the option for temporary license. For example 10 licenses for 1 month, instead of yearly subscription.
Likelihood to Recommend
It was required to provide ad-hock access for about 50 new users (not all simultaneously) to some internal server. With Parallels RAS it was done very fast. Very flexible permissions definition allowed us to separate users according to our needs.
Parallels Remote Application Server has allowed us to implement a flexible and customizable work environment comprised of thin clients, virtual desktops, and individuals working from home. It was relatively easy to set up and is simple to maintain.
Pros
Virtual Desktop Environments
Integration with Thin Clients
Easy user/session management via portal
Cons
Sessions will sometimes suspend and fall into a 'sleep' state where they don't fully disconnect. This leaves users confused as to why they can't actually get on their computers.
Cursors on thin clients will often disappear when hovering over different applications.
Not all software can be virtualized and utilized in the "published apps" method of implementation. This isn't really Parallel's fault, but it's definitely something to be aware of. Some users may need a full VDI if working from home over just the apps.
Likelihood to Recommend
Parallels Remote Application Server is excellent for work-at-home environments and virtual environments on-premise. It can also be coupled with MFA methods, so if you're concerned about security it has that baked in as well.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (11-50 employees)
We use Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) to remotely use customers' Production Management System that is specially made for the plastics industry. That program is very heavy, almost impossible to use over a VPN connection. And very fragile on network breakage/errors. When using RAS the program stays on the server, and only screen is mirrored to the users computer. No network issues when local network is only used. If users connect to RAS breaks, the job continues where it left off when the connection gets back. RAS is pretty good for this environment, users like to use two screens on the RAS web version, but now we have to satisfy the one screen with tabs. RAS makes it also possible to use PMS on phones and tablets.
Pros
Mirror the heavy program to remote users screen
Works also on phones and tablets
Cons
Customer like to use at least two screens simultaneously on the RAS web version
Likelihood to Recommend
When you need to mirror heavy programs over slow networks. Programs that won't work on phones or tablets, but through server they would work.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Customer Service (51-200 employees)
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).
Pros
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.
Cons
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.
Likelihood to Recommend
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!
Parallels RAS is used to provide remote access to our business applications for remote users, contractors, and consultants. It has been used by the whole organization, however, it has been utilized the most by dept. which outsources most of their functions to a 3rd party such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, and purchasing. The application addresses the issue of offering a standard and easy way to access our business applications in a secured and controlled environment for remote users.
Pros
Redundant of publish and gateway servers.
Offers many ways to publish an application.
Load balancing to improve performance.
Secure access with SSL and integrated AD authentication.
Cons
SSL certificate need to manually import - automatic would be nice.
Lack of integration with VDI clustering vendors such as VMware, HyperV.
SSO with SAML or other technologies.
Likelihood to Recommend
In a scenario in which you need to provide access to your business applications to remote users and you need a solution that can be deployed very quickly with easy maintenance and low cost, Parallels Remote Application Server is a perfect fit.
However, for remote access of computing resources such as CAD or CAM application, PRA may be not a good choice.
VU
Verified User
Professional in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)
