Parallels, Inc.

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Parallels, Inc.
Type Privately held company
Genre Virtualization and Hosting Automation
Founded 1999
Headquarters United States Renton, Washington, United States[1]
Key people Sergeui Belousov, Chairman and CEO
Industry Computer software
Products Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux
Parallels Server
Parallels Server for Mac
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers
Plesk
HSPcomplete
Compressor Server
Compressor Workstation
PEM
Parallels Infrastructure Manager
Parallels Automation
Employees ~750 (as of Jun 2009)
Website parallels.com

Parallels, Inc. is a privately-held virtualization technology company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine. Parallels' US offices are in Seattle, WA and Herndon, VA. The company has more than 900 employees as of 2008[citation needed].

Parallels, Inc. was an SWsoft company until January, 2008[2]; each company operated as a separate entity and maintained its own distinct branding. In December, 2007, Parallels' parent company SWsoft announced its plans to change its name to Parallels and ship both companies' products under the Parallels name.[3] The merger was formalized in January 2008.[4]

Contents

[edit] Company history

  • 2004 – SWsoft acquires Parallels, Inc.[5]
  • 2005 – Parallels, Inc. officially launches
    • September 7 – Parallels launches beta version of Workstation for Windows and Linux 2.0[6]
    • December 8 - Parallels launches the completed version of Parallels Workstation for Windows and Linux 2.0[7]
  • 2006 - Parallels announces itself as an official company
    • April 5 – Apple Inc. launches Boot Camp[8]
    • April 6 – Parallels launches its first beta build of Parallels Desktop for Mac[9]
    • June 15 – Parallels officially launches Parallels Desktop for Mac[10]
    • July 18 – Parallels Desktop for Mac debuts in retail stores[11]
    • September - Parallels moves its corporate headquarters from Herndon, Virginia to Renton, Washington
  • 2007
    • Netsys lawsuit (see Parallels Desktop for Mac for details).
    • June - Announces Parallels Server for Mac at WWDC
    • April 26 - Announces Parallels Technology Network [12]
  • 2008
    • January - SWsoft merges into Parallels to become one company under the Parallels branding.[2]
    • January 11 - Parallels acquires ModernGigabyte, LLC.[13][14]
    • June 17 - Parallels officially launches the first version of Parallels Server for Mac[15]
    • November 11 - Parallels releases Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac [16]

[edit] Products

Parallels uses Intel Core's virtualization technology to allow the virtual machine direct access to the host computer's processor. Much of Parallels' software is based on a lightweight hypervisor architecture, which provides the guest operating system direct access to the computer's hardware. Each Parallels virtual machine functions like a real computer with its own processor, RAM, floppy, CD drives, harddrive and tools.

[edit] Desktop software

Parallels is best known for its MacIntel-based product Parallels Desktop for Mac. First released June 25, 2006, Parallels Desktop for Mac is a hardware emulation virtualization software that uses a lightweight hypervisor to enable users to run: Windows, Linux and other operating systems simultaneously with Mac OS X on their Intel based Macs.

First released December 8, 2005, Parallels Workstation enables users to create multiple, independent virtual machines on one PC. Workstation consists of a virtual machine suite for Intel x86-compatible computers (running Microsoft Windows or Linux), which allows the simultaneous creation and execution of multiple x86 virtual machines. Workstation supports hardware x86 virtualization technologies such as Intel VT.

[edit] Server software

First release June 17, 2008, Parallels Server for Mac is a hypervisor-based server virtualization software that enables IT managers to run multiple Windows, Linux and Mac OS X Server operating systems on a single Mac Xserve[17]. As of its release, it is currently the only server virtualization solution for the Mac OS X server platform and that allows users to virtualize Mac OS X Leopard Server.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is an operating system-level virtualization product designed for large-scale homegenous server environments and data centers. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is compatible with x86, x86-64 and IA-64 platforms. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers was first released under Parallels' former parent company SWsoft. The Linux version was released in 2001 while the Windows version was released in 2005.

[edit] Automation software

Parallels Plesk Control Panel allows a server administrator to set up new websites, e-mail accounts, and DNS entries through a friendly web-based interface. Parallels Plesk Control Panel for Linux/UNIX supports multiple POSIX platforms, including Red Hat Linux/Fedora, SUSE, Debian/Ubuntu and FreeBSD. Parallels Plesk Control Panel for Windows supports Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. Parallels Automation System allows businesses to increase productivity and revenue by automating billing and provisioning of their services.

POA is an enterprise solution/platform for Hosting Providers which automates provisioning of new hosting subscriptions to the hardware. Supports provisioning of Apache and IIS hosted websites, VPS hosting, Qmail and MS Exchange for mail hosting. Hosting Vendor adds new hardware nodes into POA infrastructure and basing on configuration templates sets up provisioning of Customer's Subscriptions to the new hardware.

PBA-E is also an enterprise billing platform usually used along with POA to count and sell everything what POA provisions. Allows to configure the Store, Service Plans with prices, discounts, promotions. Supports registration of domains by means of number of special plugins. Might be used as billing engine for any other platform via API integration.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Worldwide Operations HQ at http://www.parallels.com/en/contact
  2. ^ a b InfoWorld Virtualization Report | David Marshall | InfoWorld | Parallels Announces Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 | January 29, 2008 08:03 PM | By David Marshall
  3. ^ SWsoft to abandon itself and become Parallels | The Register
  4. ^ SWsoft Parallels does Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 thing | The Register
  5. ^ Parallels acknowledges SWsoft ownership
  6. ^ SWsoft: :
  7. ^ http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,8345
  8. ^ Apple Introduces Boot Camp
  9. ^ http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,8655
  10. ^ http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,9121
  11. ^ http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,9389
  12. ^ Parallels Technology Network announced
  13. ^ Web Host Industry News | Parallels Acquires ModernGigabyte
  14. ^ Parallels.com | Parallels Acquires ModernGigabyte
  15. ^ Virtualization Report | David Marshall | InfoWorld | Parallels announces the first Mac server virtualization platform | June 18, 2008 08:14 AM | David Marshall
  16. ^ http://www.macworld.com/article/136717/2008/11/parallels.html
  17. ^ Parallels demos Mac server virtualization

[edit] External links

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