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."The most valuable feature is the ease with which you can publish applications to different groups of users, by integrating with Windows Active Directory."
"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."
"Client compatibility with many systems makes it very versatile. The reporting that is included is awesome."
"Allows us to publish applications accessible by current-generation HTML5 browser or OS-specific client (Windows, Android, iOS), and it supports popular single sign-on and multi-factor authentication protocols."
"Ease of use in publishing apps and installing the agent. The Interface is fairly intuitive after some tinkering. Although I inherited the app only two-thirds deployed, I was able to complete the deployment and service it over the last year without referring to any documentation."
"The connection is compressed so we don't need a lot of resources to run it."
"It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers."
"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 of VMware Player is the ability to snapshot with or without memory."
"The solution's technical support team is excellent."
"It's really easy to build testing environments with VMware Player."
"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."
"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."
"The solution's application virtualization feature needs improvement."
"The product does not utilize SQL for reporting purposes. Also, it does not support some hypervisors similar to Citrix. These particular areas need improvement."
"It needs Windows scaling on Android/iOS devices. At present, the concept of delivering apps to Android and iOS devices is appealing, but the reality is the screen size on these devices is so small that, unless there is some scaling option, it is not really usable."
"Currently in the RD Session Hosts – Sessions section, I can see what server a user is logged into but not what app he is using. Being able to do so would be immensely helpful when a non-technical user is complaining of issues, but I can’t tell which app he is using, and he is actually logged into multiple servers since they serve multiple apps."
"Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."
"The main issue we have with all of our users is printing. Randomly, a printer will disconnect or someone won't connect to it and I will have to reset the print service and then nobody can print. That's the big headache we've had over the course of the five years."
"A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server."
"VMware Player isn't downgradable, so if you have a later set of VMs, you need to upgrade it or figure out a workaround."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
"The tool has limited scalability."
"Its networking features need improvement."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
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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 NVIDIA GRID, 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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