We performed a comparison between Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) and VMware Player based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We use Cloudpaging to package and deploy the vast majority of our applications to our standard Windows 10 desktops. With the use of Parallels integration into Software2 AppsAnywhere hub, this means we can use the same packages to deliver Windows applications to almost any device - Windows, mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux, Xbox One, PS4 - just by ticking a box."
"It provides flexible access to Windows applications from many types of devices."
"Valuable features include the ability to set up security groups for accessing certain apps, and the ability to add apps easily and centrally without touching the servers they’re hosted on."
"The most valuable feature is the ease with which you can publish applications to different groups of users, by integrating with Windows Active Directory."
"It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers."
"We can publish apps and desktops on Terminal Servers and seamlessly share printers. We also combine Parallels with Deepnet Security to get two-factor authentication."
"Setup was straightforward. Our particular use case involved an Active Directory forest involving two data centers and three domains. User authentication against Active Directory was the easiest to set up and validate of any application installed in the last three years."
"You have the opportunity to virtualize applications in different locations. Everything is in one pane or one window, which is quite good."
"It's really easy to build testing environments with VMware Player."
"The solution's technical support team is excellent."
"VMware Player's best feature is the ability to run different OS's simultaneously."
"VMware Player helps you to virtualize and install Ubuntu or any other operating system, even on a Windows laptop."
"The most valuable feature of VMware Player is the ability to snapshot with or without memory."
"If the solution crashes, then all the customers connected through that agent, lose their session."
"We use several gateways because access to our secret zone requires two-factor user authentication. It is a lot of hassle differentiating among users with or without two-factor. Of course, we could use two farms, but that would mean more management too."
"We would like the ability to provide a popup message, such as a maintenance notification. That same notification on the Parallels client would be awesome."
"HALB is not stable in our environment. When running two HALBs we have stability problems, so we use an active one and a passive for backup. Also, it would be nice to implement an upgrade of the environment without having to stop the servers. As it is, this must be done during off-hours."
"Improvement is needed in performance monitoring of the client's endpoint, and automatic re-connection of the client in the event of circuit disruptions (this works well generally but can present challenges)."
"Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."
"The customization of the web interface could possibly use some improvement. Little things, like being able to place a background image instead of just choosing from a palette of colors, would be nice."
"Opening a ticket should be available from the actual RAS console. It is cumbersome to go to a portal, hunt around for five minutes for a link to open a ticket, answer questions meant to direct you towards FAQs instead of live support, then fill out information (license #, version #, etc.) which could more easily be supplied by sending a ticket straight from the console with all of that information automatically specified."
"Its networking features need improvement."
"VMware Player isn't downgradable, so if you have a later set of VMs, you need to upgrade it or figure out a workaround."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"The tool has limited scalability."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
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Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is ranked 12th in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 24 reviews while VMware Player is ranked 8th in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 10 reviews. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is rated 8.8, while VMware Player is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) writes "Provides good scalability and a secure environment". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware Player writes "A highly stable solution that has the ability to snapshot with or without memory". Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is most compared with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service), Citrix Workspace, VMware Workstation and Parallels Desktop, whereas VMware Player is most compared with VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation, VMware Horizon, Citrix Workspace and Parallels Desktop. See our Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) vs. VMware Player report.
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