Likelihood to Recommend Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) has worked very well for our company in our distributed user environment. We have 300 people in the system daily, and the system typically just hums along. We also use the Parallels Remote PC feature for remote access into specfic machines which has greatly improved our remote access experience from an IT support perspective.
Read full review Due to its perpetual licensing model, VMware Fusion is a great option for users whose needs do not change as much over time. It is also great for occasional-use scenarios such as testing and preparing code to run on newer platforms. Fusion is not really recommended for running graphics-intense applications as graphics acceleration in Fusion is fairly limited in both performance and API support. It has, however, come a very long way and offers near-native performance for many tasks.
Read full review Pros The printing driver is quite excellent, both in the Parallels Client and on the HTML5 client. Setup is incredibly easy; the default setup is very functional, and adding features is a breeze. Speed is very acceptable in general for end-users, the clients adapt quite well to the amount of bandwidth available, and features are available to adjust further. Automation through PowerShell is great. Support is usually quite fast and efficient. Read full review Allows users to run Windows only applications on their Mac without switching devices. Fusion is excellent for Windows image creation, and works exceptionally well on the Mac environment. Assists a Mac user to virtualize Windows apps. Excellent for installing Linux distros for penetration testing. Read full review Cons Licensing, our perpetual license was forcefully removed from us after 8 years without warning, causing a doubling of the price, after providing a signed sales quote for renewal through our VAR. Parallels sales team did not seem to care, and was willing to throw away a customer who used their services for nearly a decade, and throw our VAR under the bus. continued addition of new features for existing platforms, not just a focus on the hot new cloud offerings. Read full review With OSX - 10.14.1 and the latest version of Fusion - 11.0.2 the user interface has taken a step back IMHO. I would like to see price decrease. Better remote host connection capabilities - remote server connections are available but connections are spotty. Read full review Likelihood to Renew We have been using Parallels since it was called 2X - it is a major part of how we do business. It is fairly simple to use and maintain - staff like it, we like it. It is a product that makes a promise - and it keeps it. As Parallels evolves, and clean bandwidth becomes more readily available everywhere - it just makes sense to continue to use Parallels in our environment
Read full review For Apple workstations VMware Fusion is the virtualization software to use. No other application (free or paid) can do what Fusion can. The features and constant updates make Fusion an application that cant be beat.
Read full review Usability You do not need to be an expert in IT to configure, manage or train anyone to use RAS. Everything about deployment was simple and straightforward although I do wish the integration with okta and SAML was there and it didn't require the use of Active Directory for certain parts of the deployment. We eliminated AD and use Okta exclusively but without the integration we are forced to setup local users and use WORKGROUP on the server. Not terrible, just not as streamlined or secure
Read full review Sometimes the best surprise is no surprise and Fusion is just that. It's reliable and generally just works as expected every time (the only exception was running a boot camp install directly but that use-case scenario opens a can of worms due to how product activation works) The interface and settings are clean and simple and there is no hide and seek games to play.
Read full review Reliability and Availability If there are any issues with Parallels - they are usually more about the server operating systems than Parallels itself. It would be rare for us to have any reason to take Parallels offline - we schedule a reboot on the servers at 3am to keep the O/S itself fresh, but again - it is not a Parallels issue. If individual users have any issues we ask them to completely log out of parallels - which ends their session - and then back in - and that typically resolves the issue right away.
Read full review Performance I am giving Parallels 9/10 on this one because the only application that sometimes seems slow or has issues - is Microsoft Outlook. It is sometimes the result of a pop-up that may not show up in the published application (vs full desktop). Other than that - pages load very quickly - and it does not seem to slow down other applications that are running at the same time. Most of our users run Outlook, softphone and Teams locally - and published applications for everything else. When they do that - it is very solid.
Read full review Support Rating Good support in place if required, very helpful when it comes to upgrades or any issues faced. The support team is knowledgeable, friendly, and quick to respond to issues The company also provides a range of online resources, including a knowledge base, documentation, and forums, which can be helpful before raising a ticket
Read full review I have never contacted VMware, but there is a lot of support online on message boards, forums, StackOverflow, YouTube tutorial videos, and the like. VMware has been around nine years longer than its leading competitor, VirtualBox, although both seem to have a good presence of online user communities who can help solve issues that come up.
Read full review Online Training Documentation is fair but sometimes a little difficult to follow
Read full review Implementation Rating Overall, it was pretty simple compared to most other projects. Again, we had a strong familarity with the product so there was not much of a learning curve. Our 'biggest' issue is the end-user understanding of a 'local' application and a published application. For example - Online meetings need to run locally for camera/video to work smoothly so opening a link to a meeting from a published application continues to be an occasional issue.
Read full review This is a workstation application and no install insights are needed.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) provides the finest end user experience while being cost-effective and reducing administrative and support man hours. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is platform agnostic; it works with various kinds of devices (computers, phones, tablets) and several operating systems (Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.), allowing users to access it on gadgets of their choice.
Read full review I've heard of other/competitive software but frankly once I tried VMware, I never looked back. There is absolutely nothing that I need that this product does not deliver. It's fast, effective and seems to be extremely durable and reliable. My only concern (and minor) might have to do with memory resources, but frankly it has not been an issue yet.
Read full review Scalability We added our Integrated Services Staff to parallels, with filtered, published applications - in a single afternoon. We added licensing and installed the desktop client software on multiple platforms both in the office and at remote sites all on the same day - and got remote users that had never used the product up and running - very quickly.
Read full review Return on Investment Our customers have had dramatic cost decreases due to no longer needing IT departments to work with our software. We've been able to charge more for our hosting services due to our customers saving money in the long run. Parallels Remote Application Server has more than paid for itself, and the increased income has gone right back into the business. Both our customers and our company have benefited from this transition. Read full review Users using a VM often don't need something as "fancy" as VMware Fusion, and instead can use a free option like Virtual Box, so we waste money on using an extra amount of VMware Fusion licenses. Developers using and IT admins using VMware Fusion for testing saves us time and money. Simply, we know mistakes would take time and money to fix, but VMware is powerful, allows for proper and fast testing. Read full review ScreenShots Parallels RAS Screenshots