Parallels, the virtualisation and application delivery company, has launched version 15 of its Remote Application Server, bringing ease of deployment, use and administration.
Aimed at small to medium organisations, the Parallels offering of remote application delivery combines with its existing Mac virtualisation portfolio to allow users to seamlessly run Windows apps on Mac OS, with full file access capabilities, or to run almost any app on almost any platform.
“Our product is the first solution in the world that enables a Raspberry Pi to run Windows,” said John Uppendahl, vice president of communications, Parallels.
With most virtualisation systems, there is segregation of applications and code, but Parallels has taken a different approach.
Meshed together
“What we have done is instead of isolating Mac OS and Windows, we have, in fact, meshed them together,” said Jack Zubarev co-founder and president of Parallels. “The users on the Mac can use Windows applications running inside virtual machines as if those were native applications on the Mac.”
Speaking to Techpro, Zubarev said that users can not only launch Windows applications from the Mac OS Dock, they can browse files on either OS in native style.
“We have created a seamless experience out of two operating systems and made this virtualisation technology, which by its natures is extremely complex, extremely simple for non-technical users.”
Building on the user experience of its Parallels Desktop, the company wants to have a complete delivery system.
“Our vision, and what is already beyond version 15 is universal delivery of any application to employees. In the future our vision will include single sign on and integration with multi-tenant cloud applications, such as Office 365, as well as seamless and consistent delivery of files to employees,” said Zubarev.
Asset re-deployment
The company said that version 15 brings a short learning curve, fast implementation, easy migration from competing platforms, an integrated load-balancing solution, and the lowest licensing costs which enable IT organisations to re-deploy valuable IT budgets to other projects with implementation of Parallels Remote Application Server.
Remote Application Server has an enhanced user interface that reduces time for most common admin tasks, including a streamlined user enrolment process with intuitive configuration wizards for tasks such as application maintenance and new server set-ups. Version 15 offers IT administrators what the company terms “ultimate flexibility” in delivering Windows and Windows applications to employees on any devices under BYOD or choice programmes.
Parallels says the solution integrates and incorporates all features for remote desktop and application delivery, including reporting, high availability, two factor authentication, and Windows Client Management, which are functionality that other products often sell separately.
Ideal for any size of business, large or small, say the makers, Remote Application Server is fully functional from the start with no installation of extra modules required. Current users of the system include footwear maker Dr Martens, with more than 600 concurrent seats, and Lush Cosmetics being one of the largest with more than 10,000 concurrent users.
When asked about enterprise scale, Zubarev said that small to medium organisations are the primary customer base, but the system is scalable to 50,000.
Usable and manageable
Key developments in version 15 include a redesigned user-friendly HTML5 client that uses browser access, enabling end users to copy and paste between applications and change passwords. Three configuration wizards help IT administrators quickly deploy applications and servers.
From an IT management perspective, fast environment set-up now has automated Windows Server configuration, application publishing and client configuration. There is now live session management on servers, with administrators able to schedule server reboot and application access as well as logon control for more effective planned server maintenance. Default settings can be automatically assigned for application and server set-up, with administrators able to set the preferred default configuration and change settings to multiple servers at the same time.
Version 15 also has a wider range of virtual resources available, offering a seamless publishing experience from URL and intranet services, centralised drives, desktops and applications, and Chrome OS Client updates that support Microsoft RemoteFX and peripheral redirection to offer a high-end graphics application delivery.
Security policies
Enhanced security sees security policy configuration for Windows, Mac and Linux client, with extended administrator capabilities to secure data and application access while preventing illegitimate user access. There is built-in support for additional security technology, such as SafeNet, Deep Net, RADIUS authentication, and enhanced support, in terms of language, availability and content.
Parallels Remote Application Server v15 features a concurrent user license per year cost of €83.
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