Virtualization & Cloud

Parallels Remote Application Server 15.5 Supports AWS, Azure, Windows Server 2016

• By David Nagel
• 11/04/16

Parallels has released an update to Remote Application Server (RAS). The latest version of the remote desktop software, version 15.5, adds new iOS and Android clients and support for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Windows Server 2016.

Parallels RAS is a remote application and desktop server that can be deployed in the cloud or on premises, with support for Microsoft RDS and major hypervisors.

The latest release adds new iOS and Android clients built from the ground up, which now allow mobile users to run desktop applications as if they were mobile apps, including:

• Support for gestures (swipe, tap, drag, pinch);
• Magnification in any Windows app;
• Magnified click and drag.

The mobile apps also get an improved keyboard, improved mouse cursor mode, app switcher, smart tap, a new toolbar and more.

There are also improvements to the Linux, Windows, macOS and Chrome clients, including session management and auto start of apps (Windows); auto reconnect, folder redirection and a new 64-bit SSO component (Linux); bidirectional audio, Command key remapping, auto reconnect and Retina support (Mac); and time zone redirection and mouse button swap (Chrome).

On the back end, RAS 15.5 adds support for multiple publishing agents, gateways and RDS servers and new workload distribution. Parallels also said it's added optimizations for the reporting engine, web portal, gateway, client manager and other components.

Some of the other new features include:

• Support for KMS activation;
• Updated template wizard and properties;
• Improvements to the HTML5 client, including the ability to embed it in a frame;
• Improved printing and scanning; and
• Support for RemoteFX adaptive acceleration mode.

Parallels Remote Application Server 15.5 is available now. Upgrades run $50 per year per concurrent user. Pricing starts at $99 per year concurrent user. Perpetual licenses run $170 per concurrent user. Maintenance and support runs $45 per year. Further details are available at parallels.com.