RDS & VDI - Simple & Affordable Parallels 2X RAS Selling Points
What is Parallels 2X RAS? Parallels 2X Remote Application Server (2X RAS) is a connection broker that enables and facilitates the interactions between remote users and virtual resources. Virtual resources are applications, documents, and desktops hosted on a hypervisor (VMware EXI, Citrix Xen, Microsoft Hyper-V) and/or RDS - Windows Server. Remote users can request access to these virtual resources from Windows, Linux, and Mac desktops, mobile phones, tablets, thin clients, or from browsers. Parallels 2X RAS sits on top of the virtual resources and deals with the user requests, distributing the workload and ensuring connection security.
Why Parallels 2X RAS? Parallels 2X RAS simplifies the use of a virtual environment based on Remote Desktop Services (RDS) (ex-terminal Services) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). It allows you to offer remote access to virtual desktops, applications and documents from any device, improving manageability, security and performance. The product has one of the largest device coverages in the market, guaranteeing a seamless user experience on Windows, Linux desktop, Mac, iphone, ipad, Android phone & tablet, Chrome OS, Raspberry Pi, thin clients, and even from HTML5 browsers. Parallels 2X RAS minimizes the management complexity of RDS & VDI, having a set of automated wizards for setup and configuration. Administrators can publish an application to any user in a few clicks, much faster and simpler than any other solution on the market. It comes with a full set of features already embedded, without the need to install extra components or third party software. Any user can print locally without IT staff having to do anything - this works automatically from the outset. The product is vendor-independent and offers the unique and flexible opportunity to the administrator to work simultaneously with RDS, Hyper-V, Citrix Xen & VMware ESXi. IT managers can offer access to any resources available in their farm to any user.
Parallels 2X RAS Secure Access To Your Desktop, Documents & Applications HTML5 Parallels 2X RAS transforms any HTML5 browser into a business workstation, so that you can continue to use your business applications, primarily MS Office. How this works is quite simple: Parallels 2X RAS grants access to a pool of business applications from any device. Wherever the person is, the end user just has to click on the icon to work on the device as on a normal PC. Application Virtualization Deliver applications to remote users and mobile devices in a seamless and easy-to-manage way. The user can continue using the same files as though working on their office workstation. Parallels 2X RAS is easy to configure with drag and drop functionality, making publishing an application a pleasant experience. Thin Clients, Chromebooks, Legacy OSs Parallels 2X RAS allows delivery of virtual applications and desktops on thin clients (Windows- or Linux-based). Close collaboration with market leaders such as IGEL and 10ZiG has increased 2X s expertise in this area, enabling it to deliver the best possible experience for end users and IT managers. Parallels 2X RAS delivers the same outstanding performance on Chromebooks too, as well as legacy Windows OSs such as Windows XP. Remote Desktop VDI Mix the most popular hypervisors with Parallels 2X RAS to deliver seamless application virtualization and publish remote desktops. 2X RAS manages Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) independently and easily. High Availability Load Balancing With Parallels 2X Remote Application Server, setting up load balancing high availability for terminal servers and gateways is easy, without any need for complex configuration. Parallels 2X RAS ensures complete terminal server and gateway redundancy by checking availability before forwarding a connection. Desktop Management Remote Assistance Parallels 2X RAS manages all Windows client connections centrally, to facilitate configuration and maintenance, reducing the risk of locking the workstation configuration at the administrator level. IT managers are fully in control of local and remote desktop settings. This guarantees fast and effective troubleshooting. Reporting The Parallels 2X Reporting Engine is a comprehensive reporting and monitoring solution that collects and consolidates key metrics from all of the RDS & VDI servers in your environment.
Multi-Devices & Multi-OS Support Support for Windows, Linux, Mac, ios, Android, HTML5, Windows & Windows Phone The percentage of workers preferring to work remotely is increasing worldwide. More and more often, employees are reading and replying to business emails in the evening and during the weekend. The diffusion of smartphones, tablets and notebooks offers companies a significant opportunity to increase workforce productivity. In order to gain the greatest benefit, businesses need to provide fully operational workstations to their remoteworking employees, regardless of the device they are using to connect to corporate data and applications. Very often, the solutions on the market do not offer complete coverage for the different OSs available. Organizations cannot benefit fully from remote working if some of their staff do not have full access. Parallels 2X RAS Solution Parallels 2X RAS supports Windows, Linux, Mac, ios, Android, Windows and Windows phone, and also allows access from devices with HTML5-compatible browsers, not even requiring a client. Companies can reduce the complexity of installation on different devices by using the Parallels 2X Cloud Portal, which auto configures devices for a seamless connection to the servers.
Reduce Complexity Feature-rich Without Complexity - Quick & Easy Implementation The most common comment about Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop, VMware Horizon and RDS concerns the complexity of implementation. Useful features such as load balancing, remote assistance, application publishing, printing redirection, and virtual desktops are available in separate components requiring specific installations. Customers wishing to implement these additional features should beware, because they are often not included in the standard license. The installation of a solution of this kind can require several days of work by a certified technician, and often special training for internal staff to be able to use it. Parallels 2X Solution Parallels 2X RAS is an all-in-one solution, with all components available from the very beginning. The product has only one type of license, which allows the customer to use any part of the product. The implementation is quite simple, and can be ready in less than five minutes. The userfriendly interface makes it very easy to use. In fact, publishing an application is just a matter of a few clicks.
Scalability Provides Enterprise Scalability Companies can grow fast, and moving from a handful of computers to hundreds can create several issues if software does not have good scalability. For example, Citrix and VMware products require different licenses and often different products to guarantee functionality. In other words, the company loses its initial investment and has to start all over again to cater to its increased size. Also, large enterprises often have multiple sites and need specific tools that are not available in the simpler versions of a product. Parallels 2X RAS Solution Paralells 2X RAS does not have any limits in terms of license usage: the number of concurrent users can increase at any time without having to change the product or the license. Parallels 2X RAS features embedded enterprise functionality, such as the multi-management and multiadministrator roles. The roles can be distributed between members of the IT team, in order to guarantee data security and respect internal policies.
Print & Scan Redirection Universal Printing & Scanning Functionality The virtualization of desktops and applications has been of great advantage to companies, but the transformation of virtual access into a complete solution requires the ability to print. Traditionally, it is quite complex to print on a local printer using a virtual desktop. Even when using the defined tool from RDS, the operation is far from easy. Also, BYOD and the diffusion of smartphones have created a new way to work - commonly through employees own tablets - but no one has been able to guarantee printing from virtual applications on mobile devices. Parallels 2X Solution Parallels 2X RAS features embedded, automatically configured, and limitless printing redirection from any device without any extra configuration required. Parallels 2X RAS also allows users to print from mobile devices, such as phones, HTML5 browsers and tablets, transforming them into fully operational workstations.
Thin Client Ready Supports Thin Client Solutions Such As IGEL Or 10ZiG During the last decade, many companies have moved to a thin client environment, in order to reduce the cost of hardware updates and reduce the risk of loss of corporate data. Most businesses find it difficult to rely on just one solution to deliver RDS, VDI and virtual applications to thin clients. IGEL is one of the most relevant, emerging thin client vendors after HP and Dell Wyse. 10ZiG has also grown significantly over the last few years. Parallels 2X Solution Parallels 2X RAS with the Linux Client functions perfectly with 10ZiG and IGEL thin clients. Parallels 2X RAS has the advantage of being a unique central point for managing Citrix, Hyper-V, VMware and RDS services simultaneously.
RDS & VDI Supports All Major Hypervisors From Microsoft, VMware & Citrix Companies rely on different technologies to run their virtual environments: remote desktop services and VDI from VMware, Citrix or Microsoft. Also, software versions change over time. For example, WS2003 has reached end-of-life, but many companies are still running it. Often, different products are needed to run different technologies simultaneously, since most software on the market does not allow switching from one vendor to another. Parallels 2X Solution Parallels 2X RAS supports all major hypervisors from Microsoft (2003, 2008, 2012), VMware and Citrix. With its exclusive flexibility, 2X RAS is able to work at the same time on VDI and RDS on different platforms. Users can receive a VDI from VMware, an application from RDS, and a document from Citrix, on the same clients.
Load Balancing & High Availability High-Capacity, Resource-Based Load Balancing & Management Features Business continuity is critical for companies in order to guarantee consistent service to customers and employees. Downtime can cost millions of dollars, and it is difficult to repair the damage. There are many solutions guaranteeing effective business continuity, but the basic guarantee is to get optimum results and continuation of service from the actual server install base. Overload and hardware failure are the main causes of downtime. Traditional quick fixes like round robin are not effective in a high pressure environment. There are many solutions on the market that ensure load balancing between servers, but often they are very expensive and difficult to manage and configure. In an enterprise environment it is also common to have more than one gateway, in order to split the incoming traffic. Efficient load balancing for high availability generally requires additional software, increasing the TCO of the solution. Parallels 2X Solution Embedded in Parallels 2X RAS is one of the most efficient and reliable server load balancing systems. It is resourced-based and allows the system to avoid overload on a specific machine, guaranteeing the best experience possible to all users. Parallels 2X RAS load balancing is up and running from the very beginning and does not require any installation or configuration. With the same approach, Parallels 2X RAS is able to load balance the incoming traffic at the gateway, allowing companies to avoid expensive and complex solutions to create high availability for incoming RDP connections. Parallels 2X RAS HALB (high availability load balancer) for gateways is included in the standard license. HALB can manage the incoming traffic, guaranteeing the best available connection to the gateway at all times.
Reporting Boost your IT infrastructure deliverables with advanced reporting Getting concise and useful information out of the Remote Desktop Session host servers is a complex job, requiring perusal of many different event logs and correlation of IDs between different events and processes. Virtualization allows the remote workforce to have access to corporate applications. Companies need to support remote workers to the same standards as the local workforce. A reporting system based on remote activity is important to obtain the relevant information for decision making. Parallels 2X Solution Parallels 2X Remote Application Server s innovative reporting engine supports companies in managing remote workforces. It offers a complete overview of any activity happening on the network from any device, anywhere. At the moment, the reporting engine produces 14 reports divided into five groups: User, Group, Devices, Server and Application. Once again Parallels 2X RAS makes it easy. It is less complex than Microsoft s System Center Operations Manager and is included in the standard license, therefore reducing the TCO of the entire virtual infrastructure.
Q & A