Case Study: Grupo Trevenque — Improved operational efficiencies with Parallels RAS
Last updated on October 30, 2019
Grupo Trevenque – The cost and complexities of training and certifying IT professionals on their existing virtualization management tool led Spanish company Grupo Trevenque to search for a virtualization solution that was easy to deploy and use, but still allowed them to deliver cloud-based IT solutions to remote clients from a central datacenter. Their search ended, however, with Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS). Quick to set up and easy to use, Parallels RAS allowed the company to deploy cloud-based environments to remote clients while optimizing for low bandwidths.
About Grupo Trevenque
Grupo Trevenque is a leading provider of IT consultancy services in Spain. A group of 90 young and dynamic professionals started the company to deliver high-quality business solutions both nationally and internationally. From application development and technical support to web projects and outsourcing services, Grupo Trevenque offers comprehensive IT services for businesses of all sizes, targeting the publishing and healthcare sectors in particular. Headquartered in Granada, Grupo Trevenque offers IT and communication solutions in Spain, while the Mexican office handles international operations, especially in Latin America. Read more.
Grupo Trevenque Issue: The burden of training staff to handle the complex virtualization management configuration
Grupo Trevenque’s primary requirement was centralizing the publication of applications. The company needed to quickly turn the traditional client-server datacenter into a cloud-enabled virtual network. The company offers around 250 virtual desktops as well as applications, including MS Office, Sage, SAP, Internet Explorer, and personalized applications, to 220 concurrent users. The company required a virtualization tool that could centrally host desktops and applications and publish them to remote users.
Secondly, some of the clients were on a low-bandwidth network. To deliver a rich and consistent user experience, the company needed a tool that could optimize bandwidth to the core. Another important requirement was device redirection, especially printer redirection. In a virtual network, any remote user should be able to use a local printer to print documents from the Internet. Configuring the local printer was a challenging task.
The company originally used VMware to set up the VDI environment. Citrix was used to publish virtual applications. The company had chosen Citrix because of its brand value popularity and its wide range of features. ICA or HDX protocol was another feature that attracted the company. Citrix was delivering reliable performance: application publishing was not bad, and technical support was good. However, the main challenge was training and certifying employees on the usage of Citrix tools. The Citrix solution also required the configuration and management of multiple components. The process was complex and time-consuming, and in addition, required certified professionals. Configuring the high availability load balancing component and licensing server was particularly challenging.
Although Grupo Trevenque had good tools and infrastructure, the company was not able to leverage them due to a lack of technical expertise. There were only a few managers who could use all the product features. The end result was that they were not agile. Grupo Trevenque was looking for an alternative virtualization tool that enabled them to quickly set up cloud-based data centers for seamless delivery of virtual desktops and applications while being easy to manage.
“With a cloud-oriented data center network, we had to quickly convert all traditional client-server applications into cloud-enabled solutions. To do so, we needed a comprehensive virtualization solution that was easy to understand and manage while being able to reach low-bandwidth areas.“ Antonio Guerrero, Deputy Technical Director at Grupo Trevenque
Solution: Improved functionality and usability with lowered TCO using Parallels Remote Application Server
To simplify VDI management, Grupo Trevenque compared alternative virtualization solutions and concluded that Parallels Remote Application Server perfectly suited their business requirements.
Parallels Remote Application Server is a powerful, comprehensive application delivery solution that offers most virtualization components in a single interface. Moreover, virtualization features such as high availability, load balancing and printer redirection came auto-configured by default. This solution allowed Grupo Trevenque to centrally host applications and easily publish them to remote users. While Citrix offered the same features with similar client policies, fewer managers were trained and certified on the technology, which reduced the agility of the VDI network. Even with solid tools, the company was not able to fully leverage the Citrix solution. In comparison, the Parallels RAS solution’s simplicity and ease of use reduced this complexity and the costs involved in the training programs.
The company uses VDI as well as Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to publish virtual applications to remote clients. Parallels RAS was set up to centrally host applications in the datacenter in Grenada and, using SSL-based encryption, publish them securely to remote clients. The company mainly used the desktop management, HTML5 gateway, RAS portal, application publishing, and server load balancing features of Parallels RAS.
Guerrero went on to say that Parallels RAS made it easy to manage the VDI. “It allowed us to offer our SaaS homecare application management solution in all provinces of Spain from our datacenter in Granada.”
Grupo Trevenque Adoption Result— Reduced cost and complexity in managing VDI networks, and centralized management of infrastructure
Parallels RAS immediately simplified Grupo Trevenque’s IT management. The company was able to quickly convert the traditional client-server networks into cloud environments. The simple and intuitive interface enabled the staff to easily access all the features of the tool to leverage the virtualization network. Administrators without any virtualization knowledge and technical expertise were able to easily manage the network from a single dashboard. The performance of the tool was fantastic.
The most important benefit offered by Parallels RAS was the availability of auto-configured features. Load balancing, printer redirection and other virtualization components came auto-configured by default. With Parallels RAS, the company was able to print from the cloud using any local printer without the need to install the local printer drivers on the central server. Furthermore, the company was able to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO). Although the license fee for the basic Citrix solution they were originally using was lower than Parallels RAS, the costs of infrastructure management and training and certification of staff increased the TCO. With Parallels RAS, it was significantly reduced.
Remote users now access resources using SSL encryption, ensuring a higher level of security. Bandwidth optimization is an added advantage. As a result of the Parallels RAS communication protocol, the company was able to seamlessly deliver applications to offices with lower bandwidth.
Guerrero indicated that the greatest benefit was the improved functionality and usability. “We have been using Parallels RAS in our datacenter for over four years, with more than 200 concurrent licenses, and the result is fantastic. Our customers are very satisfied with the end result. The environment management is very simple and intuitive. Access by SSL allows us to ensure 100% encryption, and the communication protocol can reach places with low bandwidth.”
Summarizing Business Conditions
Grupo Trevenque, a leading Spanish IT consultancy company, publishes virtual desktops and applications to remote businesses. The company originally used a VMware virtualization platform and Citrix VDI solutions to publish healthcare application management software to 220 concurrent users. The complexity of configuring and managing Citrix tools and the costs involved in training and certifying staff on these VDI solutions led the company to search for an easy-to-use and cost-effective alternative virtualization solution that provided the same features.
Summarizing the Solutions
The company needed a comprehensive VDI management tool to publish healthcare applications and other resources using RDS and VDI. After trying the industry-leading solutions, Grupo Trevenque opted for Parallels Remote Application Server because of its ease of use, bandwidth optimization, SSL encryption security, reliable performance, and lower TCO.
Summarizing the Advantages
The Parallels RAS comprehensive application and VDI desktop delivery solution provided Grupo Trevenque with improved functionality and simplicity. The tool delivered fantastic performance, and the environment was simple and intuitive to manage. Moreover, with the application delivery solution, the company was able to reach places with low bandwidth and a lower TCO allowed them to keep prices low. As a result, Grupo Trevenque customers were extremely satisfied with the outcome.
