Parallels executives recently took on competitor Citrix, advancing their case about the business benefits involved in taking on Citrix.
A common theme of this presentation was migration challenges and how to overcome them, specifically tackling compatibility, security, and downtime risks. So why move away from Citrix at all, especially since it’s a long-standing well-known product?
“It’s about addressing cost, complexity, and performance concerns,” said Tasneem Ahemed Anwar, Business Development, Parallels Platform. “Ensuring a smooth transition involves best practices for a risk-free migration with minimal disruption. It’s all about addressing common Citrix migration challenges and how to overcome them,” Anwar said.
A live demo, hosted by Paul Fisher, Senior Pre-Sales Engineer at Parallels, lets users see Parallels in action so that they can get a hands-on look at the benefits and ease of transition. A Q&A Session addressing attendees’ specific concerns about switching from Citrix was also part of the presentation.
“Our goal today is to give you a solid understanding of how Parallels can really fit into your infrastructure,” Anwar stated.
Anwar then ran through recent research undertaken on behalf of Parallels.
“Let’s take a moment to talk about challenges IT teams are facing in today’s landscape,” he said, highlighting in particular the state of the public cloud in 2025. “In today’s hybrid reality, it’s about where your workloads live. 15% of modern workloads are single workload, 50% are multiple cloud, while 32% are hybrid cloud.
“14% will stay public cloud, 45% are considering it, 27% have adopted the hybrid model, while 14% are fully on-prem,” Anwar said. “Every organization is different. Some are fully on prem and others are cloud native.
“At Parallels we get it,” he stressed. “We don’t believe in forcing companies into a one-size-fits-all approach. We want to take the stress out of your infrastructure decisions, so your team can really focus on what really matters – all at once or gradually over time. In the end, technology should work for you and not the other way around.”
Anwar also discussed the state of the cloud in more detail, also using the survey results from the State of the Public Cloud report to draw conclusions,
“We tried to understand where organizations are in their current cloud journey,” Anwar indicated. “We found that security was at top of mind. 88% said security budgets were increasing for next year. Another key trend we are seeing is that 86% are shifting away from the public cloud.” Instead, he said, many are moving towards the hybrid middle ground.
“We tried to understand where organizations are in their current cloud journey, and we found that security was at top of mind,” Anwar stated. “88% said security budgets were increasing for next year. Another key trend we are seeing is that 86% are shifting away from the public cloud.”
Anwar noted that Parallels is a favorite among those who use Windows but want to use a Mac.
“Last year, we announced our Parallels Remote Browser solution, as well as Parallels Secure Workspace, which is similar to Parallels RAS in what it does. It all allows one to streamline a server for delivering apps or desktops seamlessly – whether running in the cloud, on-prem or in a hybrid setup. This flexibility is making a big difference for organizations we are working with. Our goal is to give organizations the way they want to do things without compromising on security or availability.”
Complexity costs and manageability remain a major pain spot with Citrix, Anwar said. “It is too complex and hard to manage, especially in mid-sized organizations.” He then noted some further problems with Citrix.
“A Citrix universal license is required for hybrid,” he stated. “Customers will need to relicense if their situation changes. There is also pressure to migrate to the Citrix Cloud.” There is a premium license cost with Citrix licensing, compared to significantly lower licensing costs using Parallels, he added, Similarly there is an issue of costly certification on the Citrix side vs simple training costs and free licenses online with Parallels. Citrix also requires universal licenses just to enable hybrid license environments. Citrix also integrates an AVD control plane which in Parallels is universal. Parallels also charges once only for a license regardless of its location.
“What Parallels RAS really brings to the table is simplicity of course,” Anwar concluded. “You don’t get limitations in terms of experience – allowing you to have a much more flexible approach. Security also isn’t a bolt on. It’s fundamental to our solution.”
Paul Fisher, Senior Pre-Sales Engineer, stressed that top of mind of many IT specialists is the complexity of Citrix. A Citrix environment is very complex, with a multitude of different software stacks plus lots of optional add-ons to incorporate and maintain. Escalating Citrix deployment and maintenance costs, driven by increasing licensing fees and the need for specialized skills, are placing significant strain on IT budgets. Companies are also more vulnerable to security risks stemming from inadequate funding for environment upkeep. The specialized expertise and costly training required mean higher expenses, slower deployments, and delayed updates, and higher expenses. It makes more sense to simplify it instead.
“Load balancing is built in,” Fisher said. “Load balancers’ purpose is to equip gateways and there are many gateways, so it makes load balancers highly available. With our flexibility, you can really deploy where you need to. RAS can really help you on that migration path. It’s not as simple as flipping a switch.
Fisher also noted the role of connection brokers in this process.
“They play a core role responsible for lots of things, like MultiFactor authentication,” he said.
“The core thing with this slide is that everything is all part of the license,” Fisher said. “There isn’t a cloud license. It’s just one license. You are able to get anything. It also shows the power of everything flexibility within the RAS application server. We can have multiple RAS data sites. The reports we can use for SLAs”
“Standing up a RAS environment is very quick,” Fisher emphasized. “It takes half an hour to get a simple RAS environment up and running.”