Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) Fundamentals EOL – What’s Next | Parallels Answers

Citrix XenApp Fundamentals EOL – Challenges & Opportunities

Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) Fundamentals EOL—On 3 March 2015, Citrix reviewed the lifecycle for its Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) and Presentation Server, confirming that the end of extended support for Windows Server 2003 was on 24 August 2016.

On 30 June 2018, it also ended its extended support for XenApp Fundamentals for Windows Server 2008R2. For businesses, the subsequent mandatory migration can cause a disruptive wholesale change in their IT environment. The end of extended support—which technically signifies the end of life (EOL)—means Citrix can no longer host the product in its downloads section.

You can also not receive any technical support if you are still using Citrix XenApp Fundamentals. However, Citrix’s end-of-life announcement also allows companies to re-evaluate their needs and investigate the options provided by other vendors. Parallels® has supported many companies in the migration process from Citrix.

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is easy to implement, provides enterprise scalability, and integrates powerful universal printing and scanning functionality. Parallels RAS also supports all major hypervisors from Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix.

To manage the migration effectively, it is necessary to understand performance and gain visibility of all IT tiers, including users, applications, OS, virtualization, data, and networks. Businesses need a solution that can correlate performance, availability, ‘fault,’ and capacity data. Having this clarity can help identify infrastructural weaknesses both before and after the upgrade to ensure optimum performance and end-user satisfaction.

Xenapp Fundamentals EOL vs The Parallels Philosophy: Simple, Flexible Solutions

When analyzing Parallels and Citrix solutions, you can notice a substantial difference in company philosophy.

The Parallels approach is to simplify the management of the product. For instance, the installation and configuration of Parallels Remote Application Server takes less than five minutes. Publishing an application on any device or remote desktop is just a matter of a few clicks. Furthermore, unlike the Citrix product, the Parallels solution is fully scalable, giving businesses greater flexibility. Parallels’s straightforward approach is evident also in the licensing – all the features are available from the first installation at no additional cost.

On the other hand, the installation and configuration of the Citrix product require specialized training, and the process itself can be long and complex. The configuration of any module often has to be completed manually and requires several steps until the environment is up and running. The laborious setup process can jeopardize the overall performance of the product, as human error is more likely with a manual setup. With regard to licensing, additional modules need to be purchased to deliver even a standard solution. For businesses, this results in increased costs and more time spent on IT administration.

Parallels Offers A High-Quality Solution To SMBs

It is quite clear that Citrix is not the best solution for small and medium businesses. At Parallels®, we understand that running a small and medium business is hard enough without also having to worry about the IT infrastructure.

Parallels Remote Application Server focuses on security, reliability, performance, and usability. Parallels Remote Application Server, unlike the Citrix product, is one solution that covers all your needs without having to constantly monitor statuses. If one feature is upgraded or the status changes it won’t affect your whole network and the IT administrator will be informed automatically. The icing on the cake is that Parallels Remote Application Server is easy to install, manage, configure and maintain, all at a very competitive price.

A default Parallels Remote Application Server installation only takes a couple of minutes to complete (standard MSI package).
All components needed to publish applications and desktops over the internet etc. (i.e. Parallels SecureGateway) are installed by default, therefore all functionality is available in an out-of-the-box configuration within minutes.
All Parallels Remote Application Server components run (and are installed) on a single server. Various components can be added or migrated to additional servers to support larger-scale networks.
Parallels Remote Application Server does not have any specific requirements.
Parallels Remote Application Server is very easy to configure and manage; administrators do not have to be specialized.
High-capacity, resource-based load balancing, and management features.

Parallels helps you make sure that your employees are getting the tools and resources that your company needs. With Citrix’s end-of-life announcement, now is the right time to switch to Parallels Remote Application Server and escape Citrix’s monopolistic approach.

Experience Parallels RAS with a 30-day trial.

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