Citrix Systems and Remote Access – What about an Alternative?

What Is Citrix Systems?

Citrix Systems provide remote access and virtual computing solutions, among others. From its humble beginnings in the late 1980s, Citrix has grown to become a major player in the industry.

The American multinational software company offers software as a service, desktop virtualization, cloud computing, desktop as a service, and networking services.

Citrix dominated the thin client technology by the 90s, thus increasing its revenues significantly between 1995 and 1999. Citrix creates products that allow individuals to collaborate and work remotely, from any kind of device or network. The products offered by Citrix fall under the following genres:

Desktops and apps

Citrix products related to desktop and application virtualization allow users to access Windows desktops and applications regardless of the machine they use to access it. Citrix XenApp provides application virtualization, Citrix XenDesktop, XenClient and Citrix VDI-in-a-Box provides desktop virtualization while DekstopPlayer for Mac allows offline and online access to Windows Virtual Desktops for Mac.

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Citrix has different DaaS offerings like Worx Mobile apps which secures emails, browsers, and documents, and Citrix Workspace Suite which is suited for mobile workspaces.

Networking and Cloud

Citrix product offerings related to networking and cloud computing are Citrix XenServer for server virtualization, Citrix Cloud for management of network appliances, ByteMobile Adaptive Traffic Management which optimizes mobile video services, and ByteMobile Insight which provides analytics for subscribers and data.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Citrix offers SaaS solutions for communications and collaboration and includes products like OpenVoice for audio conferencing and Podio for cloud-based collaboration.

Citrix Systems Acquisitions

Over the course of its 30+ year history, Citrix Systems has acquired over 50 acquisitions, the majority of which have added to its current portfolio or helped it grow rather than resulting in any significant diversification.

Eight years after its founding, it made its first acquisition—the Australian business DataPac—which aided Citrix in establishing a presence in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area. The GoTo suite was acquired by Expertcity in 2004. Netscaler followed in 2005. And XenSource, whose name Citrix used for its Xen-branded products like XenApp and XenDesktop, came on the scene in 2007. Over the course of the following decade, it made some crucial acquisitions that would lay the groundwork for some of its key products.

In order to improve the “employee experience,” Citrix just acquired Sapho, a micro-apps platform, for $200 million. Sapho intends to integrate its technology directly into Citrix’s products.

Parallels RAS as an Alternative for Remote Access

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is an alternative that can provide you with secure remote access.

With Parallels RAS, you get a simplified environment and licensing model that allow your employees access to your apps from anywhere, at any time. Parallels RAS has everything you need in an application delivery and VDI solution, including load balancing, printing redirection, monitoring and reporting.

For companies looking to leverage their existing investment in a Citrix Systems environment, Parallels RAS offers an easy-to-use Citrix migration tool. See a more detailed comparison between Parallels RAS and Citrix here.

You can give Parallels RAS a try by downloading your 30-day Parallels RAS trial or viewing a demo.

Download the Trial