For CSP & VDI Partners Evaluating What Comes Next

CSP Partners: Stop Paying for 250 Licenses When Your Customer Only Needs 50.

Parallels RAS gives CSP and VDI partners a simpler alternative for delivering virtual apps and desktops, with flexible infrastructure choices, a partner program you can enter today, and a 30-day trial you can download without waiting for NFR approval.

250-license minimum Changing CSP program NetScaler patching NFR approval Hypervisor restrictions Who owns your relationship?
Download Parallels RAS Free • 30 Days • No Approval See Where RAS Fits
Quick Definition

What is Parallels RAS?

Parallels RAS (Remote Application Server) is a virtual application and desktop delivery platform for publishing applications, full desktops, documents and Remote PC access from a single platform. It is designed for on-premises, hybrid and cloud environments and uses concurrent-user licensing.

You Already Know These Problems

Why CSP and VDI Partners Are Re-Evaluating Their Current Platform

You do not need another generic vendor comparison. You need an answer to the specific operational and commercial problems your team deals with every day.

01

The 250-License Minimum When You Only Need 50

  • A single-tenant CSP customer needs 50 users.
  • You are still forced into a 250-license minimum.
  • $150K-$200K can disappear annually into unused licensing.
  • You subsidize a licensing model that does not match customer demand.
You sell 50 seats. You pay as though you sold 250.
02

Renewal Shock Every Year

  • 25-30% price increases arrive at renewal.
  • There is little or no useful negotiation window.
  • Your team tells customers, "It's out of our control."
  • The customer starts asking what alternatives exist.
Their pricing decision becomes your retention problem.
03

Support That Doesn't Support You

  • The first response is a bot instead of an engineer.
  • Escalations can take days or weeks.
  • Tickets may close while the issue remains unresolved.
  • Your engineers absorb the customer's frustration.
The support failure happens upstream. The cost lands on you.
04

Your Partner Model Is Still Changing

  • Your service-provider relationship changed.
  • The organization managing that relationship changed.
  • The partner model CSPs are being asked to build around is still changing.
  • You still have to make long-term customer, staffing and investment decisions today.
How do you build a predictable recurring-revenue business around a partner model that is still being defined?
05

Weekly NetScaler Security Patches

  • A new security update means another maintenance window.
  • Delivery Controller needs attention.
  • StoreFront, Studio, NetScaler and Director add more moving parts.
  • Five products can mean five patch and testing cycles.
Your best engineers spend maintenance hours instead of billable hours.
06

The NFR Gatekeeping

  • Apply for NFR access before the POC begins.
  • Wait while the opportunity is reviewed.
  • The vendor decides whether the deal is "big enough."
  • Days or weeks can disappear before testing even starts.
Your customer is ready. Your lab is ready. The software is not.
07

Your Infrastructure Choices Come From Their Approved List

  • Your VDI automation is tied to a defined set of supported virtualization platforms.
  • VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V are familiar choices, but your customer may want something else.
  • Infrastructure strategy can become dependent on what the desktop platform chooses to integrate with.
  • A hypervisor decision should not become a VDI vendor lock-in decision.
The desktop platform should fit your infrastructure strategy, not dictate it.
08

Your CSP Business Needs a Partner Program, Not a Transition Plan

  • Your service-provider relationship changed.
  • Your program moved, and the organization managing that relationship changed.
  • CSPs are being asked to build recurring-revenue businesses while the model around them is still changing.
  • Before you invest further, you should be able to clearly explain the program requirements, benefits, escalation path and growth model you are building around.
What exactly is the partner program you are building your business on?
The Parallels RAS Alternative

How Parallels RAS Simplifies Virtual Application and Desktop Delivery

Parallels RAS gives CSP and VDI partners a simpler operating model, fewer infrastructure components and a faster path from opportunity to POC.

01

Buy What You Actually Need

  • Concurrent-user licensing.
  • 50 users means 50 licenses, not 250.
  • Capacity grows with customer demand.
  • No forced minimum designed around somebody else's economics.
Align licensing cost with the business you actually won.
02

One Installer Replaces Five Products

  • No separate Delivery Controller product.
  • No StoreFront tier to manage.
  • No separate NetScaler appliance requirement.
  • No Studio and Director console sprawl.
One platform. One management experience. One security cycle.
03

Partner Support That Actually Exists

  • Real people answer.
  • Response times that matter to production operations.
  • Issues are worked toward resolution.
  • Your engineering team is not left carrying the entire escalation.
Partner support should reduce your workload, not become another workload.
04

A Defined Partner Path From Day One

  • Enter an established Parallels partner and service-provider ecosystem.
  • Access technical training, enablement resources and product guidance as you get started.
  • Build around a defined service-provider licensing and delivery model.
  • Know the program path you are investing in instead of waiting for the model to take shape.
Your partner program should help you build the business now, not ask you to wait for clarity later.
05

Predictable Pricing

  • No surprise renewal structure.
  • No SKU changes dropped into the middle of the relationship.
  • What you agree to is what you pay.
  • No forced tier movement halfway through the year.
Protect margin without explaining somebody else's pricing decisions.
06

GPU Workloads Work

  • Remote PC for direct workstation access.
  • GPU passthrough for demanding workloads.
  • Support use cases such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks and Revit.
  • Graphics-heavy customers do not automatically fall outside the model.
Keep engineering and design workloads inside your VDI portfolio.
07

Choose the Infrastructure That Fits the Customer

  • Native options include VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix and Scale Computing.
  • Cloud integrations include Microsoft Azure, Azure Virtual Desktop and AWS.
  • The RAS Custom Provider Framework can extend automation to platforms such as Proxmox, KVM, Xen, Virtuozzo and private-cloud environments.
  • Remote PC can also deliver dedicated physical systems, including HPE-based use cases.
More infrastructure choice. Less dependence on a narrow virtualization stack.
08

Walk Into an Established Service Provider Program

  • Sign up for the Parallels Partner Program.
  • Get hands-on with Parallels RAS.
  • Complete technical training and access enablement resources.
  • Build and deliver managed services through a defined service-provider path.
Start with a partner model that is already operating, not one you have to figure out as you go.
The Friction Advantage

How Parallels RAS Trial Access Works: Download, Install and Test

Your customer is evaluating you too. Every unnecessary delay gives them another reason to move the opportunity somewhere else.

The Approval-Gated Model

How Your Current Vendor Does Trial Access

  1. Submit an NFR request with deal details.
  2. Their team reviews whether the opportunity is "big enough."
  3. Wait 5-10 business days.
  4. If approved, receive a time-limited license.
  5. Finally start testing, potentially two weeks later.
Their decision matters more than yours. This costs you customers.
The Parallels RAS Model

How Parallels RAS Does Trial Access

  1. Click "Download Free Trial."
  2. No forms and no approval process.
  3. No one reviews the size of your opportunity.
  4. Get 30 days of fully functional testing.
  5. Install it in your lab today.
  6. You decide whether it fits. Not them.
No gatekeeping. Your time matters.
Where RAS Fits

Who Is Parallels RAS a Good Fit For?

This does not need to be an all-or-nothing platform decision. Use the right platform for the right customer workload.

✓Good Fit for Parallels RAS

  • CSP partners building or operating hosted desktop services.
  • VDI partners that want a simpler platform to deploy and maintain.
  • Customers with roughly 50-1,000 seats per environment.
  • Partners losing margin to licensing minimums.
  • Teams tired of NFR approval gatekeeping.
  • Organizations trying to reduce infrastructure and patching complexity.
  • GPU and direct-workstation use cases through Remote PC and GPU capabilities.
  • Partners that want flexibility across VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Scale, Proxmox and other infrastructure options.
  • Service providers that want a defined partner path instead of building around a partner model that is still changing.

!Not the Best Fit for Every Workload

  • Customers that require exclusive cloud-hosted Teams real-time optimization may belong on a different platform.
  • Keep those rare exception accounts where they make technical sense.
  • Move the rest of the portfolio where licensing, operations and partner economics make more sense.
Two Kinds of Lock-In

Parallels RAS Infrastructure and Hypervisor Options: Keep the Choice With You

CSP flexibility is bigger than licensing. It is the freedom to choose the virtualization platform that fits the customer and the confidence of knowing where you stand in the partner program from day one.

Infrastructure Lock-In

Build Around the Vendor's Supported Stack

  1. Start with the desktop platform's supported provider list.
  2. Match the customer's infrastructure to those approved integrations.
  3. Introduce another virtualization platform and the automation story changes.
  4. Your VDI platform begins influencing infrastructure decisions outside VDI.
Your customer's hypervisor strategy should not be dictated by their application-delivery vendor.
Parallels RAS Infrastructure Choice

Choose the Platform. Then Bring RAS to It.

  1. Use VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix or Scale Computing.
  2. Deploy in Microsoft Azure, Azure Virtual Desktop or AWS.
  3. Extend automation with the Custom Provider Framework to platforms such as Proxmox, KVM, Xen and Virtuozzo.
  4. Use Remote PC for dedicated physical workstation and HPE-based scenarios.
Infrastructure choice stays with you and your customer.
Business Model Uncertainty

Your CSP Business Needs a Partner Program, Not a Transition Plan

  1. Your service-provider relationship changed.
  2. Your program moved, and the organization managing that relationship changed.
  3. CSPs are being asked to build recurring-revenue businesses while the model around them is still changing.
  4. You still carry the customer commitment while program requirements, benefits and escalation ownership continue to take shape.
Before you commit further, ask:
  • What are my program requirements and benefits?
  • What does my path look like as I grow?
  • Who owns technical and commercial escalation?
  • What does my relationship look like 12 or 24 months from now?
Your CSP strategy shouldn't depend on waiting for someone else's partner model to become clear.
Established Parallels Partner Path

Walk Into an Established Service Provider Program

  1. Sign up for the Parallels Partner Program.
  2. Get hands-on with Parallels RAS.
  3. Complete technical training and access enablement resources.
  4. Build and deliver managed services through a defined service-provider path.
Don't build your recurring-revenue business around a partner model that's still being defined. Build it on one that's already operating.
Margin Recovery Math

Parallels RAS Licensing and CSP Economics

Licensing waste and recurring engineering maintenance can quietly consume the margin CSP services were supposed to create.

$150K-$200K

Potential Annual Licensing Waste Recovered

Eliminate the gap created when smaller single-tenant customers are forced into a 250-license minimum despite needing far fewer seats.

40-60 Hrs

Engineering Time Freed Each Month

Reduce time spent maintaining and validating Delivery Controller, StoreFront, NetScaler and the surrounding management stack.

1 Cycle

One Platform Security Cycle

Replace multiple independent infrastructure patch and validation workflows with a consolidated platform approach.

Financial and engineering-hour examples should be validated against each partner's licensing agreements, environment size, labor rates and operating model.
Parallels RAS FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About Parallels RAS for CSP Partners

Direct answers to common questions about Parallels RAS licensing, infrastructure support, architecture, trial access and partner use cases.

What is Parallels RAS?

Parallels RAS, or Parallels Remote Application Server, is a virtual application and desktop delivery platform. It can publish applications, full desktops, documents and Remote PC access while providing centralized administration for on-premises, hybrid and cloud deployments.

Is Parallels RAS suitable for CSP and VDI service providers?

Parallels RAS can support service-provider use cases that deliver hosted applications, virtual desktops and Remote PC access. Parallels also documents multi-tenant architecture and a Service Provider License Agreement model for service-provider deployments.

How is Parallels RAS licensed?

Parallels RAS uses concurrent-user licensing. A license is consumed based on the number of users connected at the same time rather than the total number of named users who may have access to the environment.

What hypervisors and infrastructure platforms can Parallels RAS work with?

Parallels RAS supports virtualization and cloud options including VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix, Scale Computing, Microsoft Azure, Azure Virtual Desktop and AWS. RAS 21.2 also introduced a Custom Provider Framework that can integrate additional hypervisors and virtualization platforms through custom scripts.

Can Parallels RAS work with Proxmox?

Yes. Parallels RAS 21.2 introduced the Custom Provider Framework, which Parallels specifically describes as enabling integration with hypervisors or virtualization platforms such as Proxmox for automated VM lifecycle management, template versioning and host-pool provisioning.

Does Parallels RAS use Delivery Controller, StoreFront, Studio, Director or NetScaler as platform components?

No. Those are not Parallels RAS platform components. Parallels RAS uses its own architecture, including RAS Connection Brokers, RAS Secure Gateways, agents, the Parallels RAS Console and the RAS Management Portal. The exact component layout depends on the deployment design and availability requirements.

Can I try Parallels RAS before becoming a customer?

Yes. Parallels offers a 30-day Parallels RAS trial. Its current trial information describes a self-deployed trial that includes licensing for up to 50 concurrent users.

Start the 30-day Parallels RAS trial

What support comes with a Parallels RAS subscription?

Parallels states that Parallels RAS subscriptions include 24/7 phone and email support for the lifetime of the subscription. Parallels also provides product documentation, a knowledge base and technical resources.

No NFR Request. No Approval Queue.

Stop Asking Permission to Test Software.

Download Parallels RAS. Install it in your lab. Test it on the infrastructure that makes sense for your business. Put your own applications, users and workloads through it. You have 30 days to determine whether it belongs in your CSP portfolio.

Download Free • 30 Days • No Approval
Download today Test immediately No deal-size review No NFR approval