BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) comparison

BeyondTrust and Citrix are both solutions in the Remote Access category. BeyondTrust is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.2, while Citrix is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.2. BeyondTrust holds a 2.5% mindshare in VUS, compared to Citrix’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of BeyondTrust users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Citrix users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Citrix DaaS and BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access are leading solutions in the virtualization and remote access domains, respectively. Citrix DaaS is generally favored for its user-centric approach and broader feature set, whereas BeyondTrust is noted for its superior security features.

Features: Citrix DaaS offers comprehensive virtualization capabilities, enhanced remote access, and seamless user experience. BeyondTrust provides robust security, superior access control, and integration with various security tools. Citrix DaaS stands out due to its extensive functionality and user-friendliness.

Room for Improvement: Citrix DaaS could benefit from more flexible pricing models, enhanced security protocols, and additional security enhancements. BeyondTrust could improve its setup process, offer better documentation, and enhance ease of use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix DaaS is straightforward to deploy and supported by excellent customer service, making integration smooth. BeyondTrust, while secure, poses more challenges during setup, though its support is responsive.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix DaaS offers good ROI with its extensive features and scalable pricing. BeyondTrust’s higher pricing is justified by superior security features but has a longer payback period. Citrix users find a balance of cost and value, while BeyondTrust users feel their investment is worthwhile due to heightened security, despite the steeper price.

To learn more, read our detailed BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

January 2025

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Helped 838,713 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.6%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is 2.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) is 4.9%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi

Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Everything has worked better since we started using it

Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.

Read full review

Hahn Rolf

CEO at MICRODYN AG

Securely manage high-privilege remote access with granular configurations

I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Better alignment between products would enhance manageability from a single point. Additionally, BeyondTrust should focus on automating the update process to reduce unnecessary ticket creation. Improved quality control for non-English language versions is needed to avoid translation and layout errors.

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DavidWood1

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Flexible Deployment, reliable performance, and fast transmission speeds

Provisioning Server is a fantastic option for image management in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. It offers excellent performance and reliability. On the other hand, while Machine Creation Services can be scaled easily, they can significantly increase storage consumption. For instance, creating a Windows 10 image in MCS typically requires at least 80 GB of storage, in addition to any separate disks needed. To store changes made by users in Machine Creation Services, the differencing disk must be equal in size to the base disk, leading to significant storage consumption. On the other hand, Provisioning Server uses image versioning, creating a new image version every time it's modified. As a result, virtual machines streamed from the server revert to their original state after a reboot, which is similar to their state during the first boot. Using the provisioning server, I start by configuring a virtual machine with either a 2016 or 2019 server operating system. I install the necessary Citrix client provisioning server target device software, followed by installing the required applications. After that, I capture the entire configuration to a file share. The image is then streamed from the file share to the hypervisor, which can handle multiple machines. In some large-scale deployments, we have used a single image to provision thousands of servers. Once the image is captured and stored on the file share, it is set to read-only mode, and any changes made to it are not accepted until it is put in read-write mode. When a virtual machine is rebooted, it returns to its previous state before the changes were made. This feature can be beneficial in situations like a virus outbreak, where a simple reboot of the virtual machines can remove any malicious code or changes. A provisioning server offers a faster recovery time from a bad change and is generally faster than machine creation services. With the provisioning server, changes are not accepted until the read-write mode is enabled, and if a virus outbreak occurs, rebooting the machines restores them to the previous state. On the other hand, machine creation services' speed is dependent on the storage's speed, and recovery time from a bad change can take longer, especially with a large number of devices. If a bad change is made with machine creation services, the replication process can take a while to revert, whereas, with a provisioning server, all machines can be rebooted quickly. Within thirty minutes, I can restore my system to its previous state using the provisioning server.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I like how Intune deploys the policies and makes them customizable. You can deploy it through Intune and forget about it."

"The most valuable feature is probably mobile device management. Small businesses are coming under greater scrutiny and requirements for compliance as time goes on. We don't have to worry about a VPN because we can manage these devices, control company data, and lock users out. If needed, we can remotely wipe devices and deadman-switch them."

"Mobile device management is most valuable."

"Technical support, in general, has been quite helpful."

"Its security is most valuable. It gives us a way to secure devices, not only those that are steady. We do have a few tablets and other devices, and it is a way for us to secure these devices and manage them. We know they're out there and what's their status. We can manage their life cycle and verify that they're updated properly."

"Internet-based access with security is what I have found to be most valuable. It is also a stable and scalable solution."

"The most valuable feature for us is the security, including risk analysis and patch management."

"The dashboards, the security, and the customization capabilities work very well for us."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine."

"We can truly elevate our admin rights while we're in there to fully take control of a system and manage it as if it was sitting right here on our desk. Most of the organization has gone to remote work or work from home. With that being the case, this solution allows us to be able to still work with our end-users, even though they're not always sitting on our network."

"The most valuable feature is that this solution can be implemented regardless of the operating system."

"We like the integration with Active Directory. It allows us to discover the endpoints and user accounts that need protection. It's a good way of securing our privileged access."

"One of the features that I really like about it is the ability to set a start date, time, and end date for the access. For example, you can set the access for a person from tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday and ending on a specific period of the day or a specific date. That's really quite helpful."

"The project goal was to allow staff to run applications with admin privileges without being admins, which was the product's most important feature."

"The privileged remote access platform is able to track and record everything that happens within a session."

"I'd rate the solution ten out of ten."

More BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access pros

"One of the best features of Citrix Workspace is that we can access it from any device anywhere."

"XenDesktop has helped our users to work remotely with a better user experience."

"Troubleshooting Citrix is pretty straightforward."

"The most valuable feature is the desktop experience so that users don't see much difference between the remote desktop and the local desktop... It also provides virtualization for high-end graphics so that they can be displayed. AutoCAD can be done on Citrix. The graphics are very good."

"The shadow feature is extraordinary and helps a lot when supporting remote users."

"I have found that Citrix DaaS is still a complex product, especially on the desktop side, which affects scalability. Although it works well on the apps side, the desktop aspect still has room for improvement in scalability. Managing multiple OSs centrally doesn't reduce many problems, and the product remains almost on par with its competitors like VMware Vue."

"The most valuable feature is how secure the solution is."

"It has the best remote working features."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pros

Cons

"No option to do end-to-en macOS management. Slow implementation of policies."

"I know that their AI pieces are at the infancy stage, but allowing users to do more tagging for information would be an interesting thing because Intune also directly integrates with Azure. Because a lot of the devices are hosted with that, you also get a lot of tagging of user data and other things like that."

"The installation is very easy. However, to be able to configure it you will need special knowledge, such as training or self-studies to have a proper level of security. There are many settings one has to understand before being able to implement Microsoft Intune."

"Intune lags all of its competitors in terms of report generation."

"There is room for improvement in integrating additional features such as Purview and SharePoint activities into Intune."

"The interface is not as modern as some competitors in terms of single pane of glass visibility across the entire landscape. It has a very Azure vibe and may not be as graphically appealing as other products."

"Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect."

"Intune should support platforms other than Windows. We have encountered several limitations, especially when handling iOS devices."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"Multiple areas can be improved. We've seen lots of updates in the past year. They have a portal where we can submit our ideas. BeyondTrust is immediately implementing user suggestions. The UI could be more informative. Initially, there were two or three connectors, and now we have five or six. It would be nice if they added a few more connectors for third-party integration. There are multiple tools, but the clients may require more for their convenience."

"The solution's Vault is a nice feature. It helps to securely share a security password in teams, but it is not at the level of a password management solution. So, it is just really a vault. We were expecting to have more features to better manage passwords, but that is something that you can work around if you also have a password safe solution. I would like them to have features like password rotation or password auditing, e.g., old passwords."

"One of our gaps or pain points is having multi-factor authentication at the endpoint and using the PRA password injection from BeyondTrust, which does not work in our environment. We can only have MFA at the login of BeyondTrust to check out the password. Therefore, we can't meet our security requirements of having it on the endpoint."

"The integration client, backup solution, and SSO setup and provisioning could be improved. There isn't any documented or supported user provisioning currently, which slows down the processes of onboarding and assigning permissions. I would like to see this improved soon."

"The price is pretty expensive."

"The solution is very flexible, which is a plus, but I would say the implementation requires someone with knowledge and experience, as it can be easy to get lost in all the details. The implementation process could be streamlined and simplified. Though the complexity of the solution provides greater flexibility, it requires a lot of time to understand it fully."

"At the moment, I don't see any major problems with it. If anything, they can just change the look and feel of the login screen because it looks too simple to me. It does not have so much information. When you get to the login screen of the solution, you should have more information. We also have BeyondTrust Remote Support, and the login page looks similar to BeyondTrust Privilege Remote Access. I would love to see more rich information on the login screen or landing page so that rather than having a regular sign-in screen or page where you just provide a username and password and get into the solution, you should have more insight into what the solution does. I've mentioned this to them every time I have had an opportunity."

"I would love to have a web console and the ability to use the smart card with the web console to provide remote support. If you are on a computer that doesn't have the Bomgar console, you should be able to use the web console to provide support. That's the only thing right now. A web console is nice when you're jumping into a computer, but if you need to elevate the privileges, you currently can't do it with the smart card. If they could figure that out, that would be money."

More BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access cons

"Pricing can be lower and roaming profiles need to be fixed to work consistently."

"Templating the deployment process could use improvement. When you start, there are a large number of details that are quite client-specific, although they do share common themes. To get somebody up and running in a day is very difficult to do. They should streamline by use case."

"When there are technical issues, sometimes we can't get on the cloud."

"Latency is also a major problem when adopting Citrix for video editing software or 3D editing software, especially editing 4K video or large file size. The Citrix virtualized solution becomes too slow, so we cannot use the VDI."

"Using the app layering feature can be quite difficult and cumbersome."

"I heard that Citrix found some loopholes in the product, and they have yet to be covered up."

"We would like to be able to provide VDI, a full desktop, to each of our users."

"Our experience of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is good, but the environment can become complex and difficult to manage at times."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Intune is moderately priced. There is a monthly license required to use the solution and it is approximately eight dollars per month."

"No one can compete with Microsoft when it comes to price, and the features it is offering."

"The clients pay for a license and each can have a different type of license, such as an E3 or E5."

"The price of Intune is included with the license for Office 365, so we don't have to pay anything extra for it."

"The product is relatively pricey, but considering its benefits, I'd say it's fair. The benefits outweigh the expensive licensing fees, especially for large organizations, but medium-sized and smaller businesses may be unable to afford it."

"The Intune license model is costly."

"The pricing for Microsoft Intune is reasonable. Our clients are satisfied."

"I am satisfied with the pricing."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"PRA's pricing is competitive."

"Its price is pretty good for the features and services that it provides. It is not outrageous. I'm not aware of any additional charges or anything like that."

"I wish it was a little bit cheaper, but when a product is as solid as this, I understand what the cost does. It helps them to make sure it stays that way. If you want a reliable, solid product, you're going to pay more."

"Don't get into a situation where you are licensing per desktop or per person until you fully understand the licensing."

"PRA was one of the cheapest solutions that we evaluated."

"I rate the product's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is high, and ten is low. It is an expensive product."

"I wasn't directly involved in the licensing and pricing, but I can say that PRA is licensed per endpoint added to the Vault. I would advise users to take frequent exports of their license usage package; it's a simple feature that provides a spreadsheet of every machine in the Vault. This helps to cut down on duplicate licenses, which can happen by adding the same endpoint using an IP address and a fully qualified domain name, for instance. The implementation is an additional cost, and they offer several tiers, so the price varies. There are also some optional add-ons, so I would advise people to research the product well and find out precisely what they need regarding features. The Advanced Web Access add-on provides some required functionality when interfacing with websites; that's one to consider."

"The price is pretty expensive, but you get what you pay for and this is a great product."

More BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access pricing and cost advice

"You can buy an on-cloud or on-prem license. You can switch between on-cloud users and on-prem users. Its licensing is cheap. It is from $8 to $15 per user. It is not that expensive when you compare the cost of buying new hardware with the cost of the license. For example, at $15 per user, it costs around $180 for a year, which is cheaper than buying a $600 PC that at a certain stage, you will again have to change because its hardware is not supported. It may also get damaged or stolen. So, you can compare the cost of the actual hardware that you have to buy and the time spent in supporting the clients with the cost of its license."

"It's costly in the market. But it is not expensive for the company. For the company, it's relatively inexpensive because the core of the work is compensated with the price."

"Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is an expensive solution."

"The licensing of Citrix Workspace is worth it. However, it is expensive. Citrix is probably more competitive now than VMware, but it is still a costly solution."

"We have more than a million seats under management so we get the best price."

"I think it is a little high priced."

"The licenses are affordable, but the support is a bit expensive, though worth the value."

"The Citrix licensing scheme is really straightforward and simple. It doesn't have hidden costs. You get what you pay for. It is easy to understand what is on the product, so it's simple to get a clear idea of how much it costs. Licensing is not an issue."

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

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What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

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How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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What do you like most about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?

The product has improved remote support capabilities since it works fine.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?

I recommend that we improve integration with other products like PasswordSafe, aiming for smoother integration. Bette...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access?

We use the tool for vendor access, providing secure vendor access to manage systems. Most of our use cases involve se...

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What do you like most about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

My focus has primarily been on publishing virtual applications.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?

I have found that Citrix DaaS is still a complex product, especially on the desktop side, which affects scalability. ...

See all answers

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 5% of the time

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CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

Compared 13% of the time

Apache Guacamole vs BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

Compared 12% of the time

Delinea Secret Server vs BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

Compared 10% of the time

WALLIX Bastion vs BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

Compared 9% of the time

TeamViewer vs BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

Compared 2% of the time

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Azure Virtual Desktop vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon Appstream vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 9% of the time

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 7% of the time

Apache Guacamole vs Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Compared 3% of the time

More Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

February 2025

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access

February 2025

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access report

Download BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access product report

Buyer's Guide

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

February 2025

Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) report

Download Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Bomgar Privileged Access

XenDesktop, XenApp (Citrix Virtual Apps), Citrix Workspace

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

Demo not available

BeyondTrust

Citrix

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (formerly Bomgar Privileged Access) lets you secure, manage, and audit vendor and internal remote privileged access without a VPN.

Privileged Remote Access provides visibility and control over third-party vendor access, as well as internal remote access, enabling your organization to extend access to important assets, but without compromising security.

Features include:

- Privileged Access Control: Enforce least privilege by giving users the right level of access.

- Monitor Sessions: Control and monitor sessions using standard protocols for RDP, VNC, HTTP/S, and SSH connections.

- Reduce the Attack Surface: Reduce attacks by consolidating the tracking, approval, and auditing of privileged accounts in one place and by creating a single access pathway.

- Integrate with Password Management: Inject credentials directly into servers and systems with just one click, so users never need to know or see plain text credentials.

- Mobile & Web Consoles: Use mobile apps or web-based consoles anytime, anywhere.

- Audit & Compliance: Create audit trails, session forensics, and other reporting features by capturing detailed session data in real-time or post- session review, and provide attestation reports to prove compliance.

BeyondTrust

Enable secure, flexible work with the leader in virtual apps and desktops

Deliver desktop as a service (DaaS) from any cloud or datacenter

Get started with Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) in minutes to provide a familiar, high-performance digital workspace experience to your users. We’ll manage the infrastructure and security. You focus on your business.

Citrix

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Horizon Beverage, Air Liquide, Gateway Bank of Florida

Exelon, Aeronamic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Alameda County Medical Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Aloysius Stichting, Amarchand Mangaldas, AmBev, Amnet Technology Solutions, Arval

Buyer's Guide

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

January 2025

Free Report: BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Find out what your peers are saying about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access vs. Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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