Xillion ICT Solutions Case Study Using Parallels RAS

Xillion ICT Solutions – Achieves universal client for all OSes, with easy configuration and management interface

Xillion ICT Solutions needed a virtualization solution that offered a universal client for all operating systems while being easy to configure and manage. To achieve this, Xillion began working with a comprehensive application delivery solution; Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS). With a universal client for all OSes, Parallels RAS enabled Xillion ICT Solutions to publish virtual desktops and applications that were securely and easily accessible from any device.

Xillion ICT Solutions – Organization

Xillion ICT Solutions BV is a leading provider of IT solutions in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 2002 by Jean Huveneers and Roel Claessen with an aim to provide quality IT services and build quality relationships with businesses of all sizes. Headquartered in the southern city of Geleen, Xillion ICT Solutions provides ICT solutions to companies across the Netherlands.

As a leading managed service provider (MSP), Xillion ICT Solutions handles IT operations—including hardware and software needs—of several companies in the Netherlands. The MSP services include cloud as well as on-premises solutions. Services from Xillion include network and system administration, software development, virtualization solutions, and business consultancy services. In addition, Xillion publishes 250 virtual desktops to serve the needs of their clients. The services are offered at an hourly basis, by project or other mutually accepted contracts. With Xillion ICT’s automated IT solutions, companies can focus on their core business missions. To learn more on Xillion ICT Solutions BV visit: https://www.xillion.nl/

Issue: Increasing complexity to accommodate multiple OS platforms and higher licensing costs

One of the core requirements of Xillion ICT, is centrally hosting resources and securely delivering full virtual applications and desktops to remote users. Their clients come from different regions and use multiple devices and OS platforms. To keep the resources accessible, the company had to centrally host them using built-in features of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS). As RDS only provided them with basic virtualization functionalities, managing and monitoring the entire infrastructure became a challenge.

The company explored the leading virtualization solutions on the market: Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp)®, VMware Horizon®, and Parallels RAS. Both Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) and VMware Horizon came with powerful virtualization features and delivered reliable performance. While these tools could have helped the company manage their virtualization-based services, they posed other challenges. Both Citrix® and VMware® incorporate multiple components that demand complex configuration and management procedures. To set up the VDI with those solutions, certified professionals and experienced staff would have been required.

Another stumbling block to the Citrix and VMware solutions were the expensive price tags and complex licensing models. As an MSP, margins are a key factor for Xillion ICT’s business, and the expensive virtualization solutions’ costs would have cut into their margins at an unacceptable rate. Moreover, these tools offer different types of packages, which would have added a further layer of complexity to implementing their virtualization solution for customers.

“We have a hosted desktop service that we supply to our customers. We also have customers with an on–premises environment. For better connectivity and access, we needed a comprehensive virtualization solution that provides advanced features and is easy to use.”

Jean Huveneers

CTO, Xillion ICT

Solution: Simplified IT management with a universal client for all OS platforms, using Parallels RAS

To introduce the virtualization management solution, Xillion ICT explored various virtualization solutions on the market. When the application delivery packages were compared, they concluded that the Parallels RAS streamlined, endlessly mobile-optimized virtualization solution, perfectly suited their requirements.

Parallels RAS is a comprehensive virtual desktop and application delivery solution offered by the global cross-platform leaders at Parallels. This virtualization tool enabled Xillion ICT to centrally host resources and securely publish them to remote devices. All applications, business data, and Windows® environments are hosted and operated from centralized RDS servers. Remote users access these resources using any remote client device. The entire process is run on the central server, which means the client device can be operated with minimal configuration.

Although there are other products on the market that offer virtualization solutions, they require several servers, high license costs, and skills to manage. Moreover, they lack certain key features like easy setup, customization, or client-specific settings (e.g., Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Gateway/Connection Broker). Parallels RAS was chosen because it does it all from one server, making it very easy to set up and maintain. The solution’s strong capabilities in a Windows environment were an added advantage.