Today, Parallels launched version 16.5.1 of Parallels Remote Application Server, bringing delegated session management to the most cost-effective and easy-to-use virtual application and desktop delivery system on the market. Now IT managers can save time by assigning admins to safely control user sessions, disconnect users, kill sessions and send messages. The latest Parallels RAS also delivers an updated client PDP printing process, additional PowerShell API commands, and enhanced VDI to streamline management for IT admins.

Former Citrix XenApp customers have told Parallels they love Parallels RAS' secure, cost-effective, scalable and easy-to-use features, and its flexibility to host it in the cloud, on-premise and/or hybrid model. Parallels RAS makes it fast and simple for Citrix customers to migrate to Parallels RAS and start enjoying the time-saving benefits of Parallels RAS' easy-to-use, manage, and maintain solutions. Details about Parallels RAS' new PowerShell commands, key features and free trials are available online at parallels.com/ras.

The latest Parallels RAS features improve IT management across the board, joining an enhanced VDI, RDSH auto-provisioning and auto-scaling and white-labeling from version 16.5. The updates in RDSH allowed IT administrators to automatically provision remote desktop (RD) session hosts, while white-labeling enabled Windows Client rebranding for managed service providers (MSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs).

What Former Citrix Users Are Saying About Parallels RAS:

"Citrix was becoming too costly," said Integra Engineering IT Coordinator Duane Liebelt. "We were always playing around with it, and it took a lot of time out of the day just to keep it working." Integra Engineering replaced Citrix with Parallels RAS.

"Parallels Remote Application Server has been the most reliable component within the whole system," said Orchestr8 Systems Manager Stuart Watton. "It has never failed to do its job. The main driving factor was the cost of licensing, with Parallels RAS being considerably cheaper for concurrent users than Citrix."

"High-quality cross-platform support is the #1 benefit of our switch from Citrix to Parallels Remote Application Server," said IT Network Systems Manager Todd Zacharias. "Now, with the efforts of W.S. Badcock network engineers like Michael Buckley, we are able to efficiently deliver desktops and applications to Linux, Macintosh, and Windows devices with ease."

New and Key Features in Parallels RAS 16.5.1 include:

• Session Management Delegation: IT managers can now delegate specific tasks to low level admins such as controlling user sessions, disconnecting users, killing sessions and sending messages for improved productivity. See demo video online at: http://bit.ly/DelegateManagement.
• Additional PowerShell Commands
• Updated Client PDP Printing
• RDSH Auto-Provisioning and Auto-Scaling: New RDSH templates allow IT administrators to automatically provision RD session hosts, enabling Parallels RAS deployment to auto-scale based on the load. Watch a video demo here: https://youtu.be/j3yVSbESz8U.
• Free Parallels RAS Migration from Citrix XenApp 6.x Tool: With this new tool, it's easier than ever for Citrix XenApp users to migrate to Parallels RAS and start benefiting from its simplified user experience and lower TCO. Watch video demo here: https://youtu.be/iEVK2Ei6iIo.
• White-Labeling Customization: MSPs and ISVs can now rebrand Windows Client, and the branded Windows Client can be downloaded through the HTML5 gateway for improved customer branding. Watch video demo here: https://youtu.be/rg3SNSyeM68.
• Parallels RAS Console User-Experience Improvements: Delivers better feedback to managers by allowing them to view real-time performance metrics in the enhanced Site View dashboard. Watch these video demos to see Updated Administration Site View and Metrics Dashboard (https://youtu.be/CG74FO-h5-g) and Undo Configuration Changes (https://youtu.be/znq9E2RqCVc).
• Enhanced PowerShell API: Extended to support new features with a variety of complex configurations and repetitive tasks-with automatic scripts for improved efficiency.
• Redesigned Notifications: Parallels RAS now supports scripted notification handlers, allowing administrators to launch executables or scripts if a notification has been triggered for enhanced management. Watch demo video here: https://youtu.be/jZn9QfF68J4.
• Granular Client Policy Design: Enjoy more flexibility in configuring client devices, with policies split from four categories into more than 20. New settings include the ability to filter by the client-device operating system.
• SPLA License Limiting: IT admins can now create sub-licenses to SPLA licenses and set a maximum concurrent user limit on SPLAs.
• Visible Password Complexity Requirements: Adds the ability to show password complexity requirements when changing AD password via Parallels Client (Windows).
• High Availability and Business Continuity: IT admins can eliminate or reduce downtime of a Parallels RAS deployment due to an issue with the master publishing agent or licensing site.
• Microsoft App-V Publishing: Parallels RAS has implemented Microsoft App-V application containers and no longer supports Turbo.net private repositories.
• Azure MFA and 2FA: Enhanced configuration process for Azure MFA, Duo and FortiAuthenticator MFA providers.
• VDI Improvements: Enhanced VDI with a focus on better stability. The new VDI design allows a single VDI agent to manage multiple VDI hosts.

Parallels Partner Program for MSPs and ISVs

MSPs and ISVs specializing in remote application and VDI services can benefit from participating in the Parallels Partner Program, which provides usage-based pricing, waterfall discounts and a host of free resources to help them succeed.

"We like Parallels Remote Application Server because it's flexible and cost-effective. When compared against Citrix, we were able to save over 85 percent of costs for one of our customers. The support is also very good," said Peter Spithoff and Victor Esselman, owners of Network Direct Services BV.

"Parallels Remote Application Server is a complete and secure solution," said Henk Nachtegaal, founder and CEO of Effect ICT. "It's very easy to set up and manage. It's flexible, cost-effective, easy to use, and supports almost every endpoint device. On top of all that, their support is excellent."

"Due to HIPAA and eHPI security requirements, Parallels RAS has been a solution we can offer our clients that both meets HIPAA and our management expectations as an MSP," said Streamline IT Solutions' Sr. Network Engineer Tracy Acord.

"Parallels RAS has a straightforward setup and quick learning curve for admins and for the end-users, too," Martin Magdolen, Director of Sales Support, Slovanet. "It perfectly supports printing and scanning-the daily bread for any business. Our clients benefit from Parallels RAS' platform reliability, as well as its constant updates and improvements."

What Parallels RAS Customers Are Saying:

"Godiva has stores in more than 80 countries," said Thomas Cauwenberg, Godiva IT Service Delivery and Infrastructure Manager. "We used to update applications on each machine manually which was time-consuming and cumbersome. Now, with Parallels RAS, we just do an update once and publish it to all users. It is an inexpensive solution that simplifies our IT Management and makes it easy for employees to use the applications and files they need from any device."

"Parallels RAS is the complete package: a cost-effective, scalable, and versatile server system that enables us to seamlessly and securely deliver desktops and applications to any device," said Cancer Council NSW's IT Operations Manager Tonia Marsh. "Parallels RAS was easy to deploy, and we can now scale up the environment whenever we need to."

"Within a single day we were able to set up Parallels RAS and have a published application running in our environment," said Rawls College of Business' Server Administrator III Dayton Perrin. "The performance of Parallels RAS is fantastic and provides our business college with the tools to meet any request from our faculty, staff, and students."

"We needed a purely VPN solution, but also wanted Terminal server access," said Cambridge University's Paul Miller, Head of IT at its Judge Business School. "Parallels RAS was perfect for our situation. Parallels RAS makes it simple for our IT admins to support any device that students and teachers prefer to use and saves us a couple of hours of setup time for each device. The Parallels RAS mobile client enables students and teachers to use familiar native iOS and Android touch gestures to interact with any remote Windows application using their smartphones and tablets; they love being able to be truly productive on the go. We are excited about Parallels RAS' VDI improvements and its mobile client features, including protected applications with the use of a device passcode and Apple Touch ID and shortcuts for complex keystrokes."

"We had difficulty with load balancing when we were on Microsoft RDS by itself... Now that we're on Parallels RAS, we use server and network load balancing all the time," said Stuart Allan, IT director, Esperanza Health Center.

"Parallels RAS provides a good amount of first-level performance information for our published electronic healthcare records (HER), which in turn allows me to quickly identify and correct bottlenecks related to the network, servers, or the application itself," said Charles McCartney, senior information systems specialist at KernBHRS.

Availability and Pricing

Parallels offers a free 30-day full-featured trial of Parallels RAS version 16.5.1, including 50 concurrent user licenses.

Parallels Remote Application Server features a concurrent user license at $99 per year for a lower acquisition cost, lower support cost and lower training cost with full functionality from the start, including a load balancer and support. Parallels RAS is available online and from approved resellers, which can be found at parallels.com/ras.