All posts by Parallels Administrator

APAC-Partners, Guest Blog

Leveraging Support as Your Competitive Cloud Edge

 

Cloud and hosted service providers using Parallels Automation have an unmatched capability to combine and integrate applications and services from different vendors to provide their customers with bundles that meet a wide range of business needs. 

 

However, support issues can be a challenge when customers require assistance for services that may not be directly hosted by a service provider. To help Parallels Automation customers meet this challenge, Datacom has been working with Parallels to deliver an integrated cloud support model, which provides customers with access to seamless, end-to-end support for their cloud subscriptions.

 

The Parallels and Datacom support team alliance helps cloud service providers with:

 

•  Activation assistance: Proactively contacting new customers and extending an offer to assist them in setting up their new services, migrating existing data into the cloud and customising applications to the extent possible to support their needs

•  Integration: Providing technical consulting and support to integrate cloud services with the customer’s existing on-premise systems, to enable single sign-on, data sharing and more

• Technical assistance: Helping customers resolve issues when things go wrong, including when the problem is found to be in the service orchestration layer

• Customer service: Answering billing questions, assisting with account changes to add or modify services

• Service growth: Monitoring service usage, bringing new services into the cloud through Datacom’s APS development team, upselling and cross-selling where appropriate

 

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, the support delivered by Parallels and Datacom can serve as a competitive edge for cloud and hosted service providers.

 

Clark Hobson, Vice President

Datacom Group

www.datacom.com.au

 

APAC-Partners, APS, APS Partners, Cloud Services, Parallels APAC Summit, Parallels Automation, Parallels Cloud Services

Powering Cloud Automation Through Partnerships

 

When SoftLayer began back in 2005, the term “cloud computing” was rarely used if at all. The founders of SoftLayer had an ambitious vision and plan to build a service platform that could easily automate, scale and meet the demands of the most sophisticated IT users. They were obviously onto something. Since then, we’ve emerged as the world’s largest privately held Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider, helping the next generation of web savvy entrepreneurs realize their dreams. But we didn’t do it alone. We had partnerships in place—including working with Parallels.

 

Today, the industry is trying to scramble and figure out how this “new” IT shift will work out. Our partners at Parallels had a similar ambitious undertaking—trying to automate and enable a complete gamut of hosting and cloud services. This created a framework for our partnership. We worked with their engineering and sales teams, starting back in 2005, which resulted in Parallels Plesk Panel being offered as an option on every SoftLayer server. That was just the beginning. We are now deployingParallels Automation for hosting partners, and have plans to integrate with the Application Packaging Standard for delivering the broadest array of cloud and hosted applications.  Plans to integrate with other products like the forthcoming Parallels Cloud Server 6.0 (now in beta for trials) are also on the horizon. It all comes down to helping hosting companies and other joint customers thrive and succeed.

 

To find out more about our partnership with Parallels and how it can help streamline your entry into cloud computing, click here. We were also the only “Diamond” sponsor at the recent Parallels Summit 2012 APAC in Singapore this year, and look forward to Parallels Summit 2013 in Las Vegas early next year.  We share a heritage and understanding with Parallels borne from a need to simplify and solve IT problems on a broad scale. Now that’s what I call a like-minded partnership.

 

George Karidis

Chief Strategy Office

Softlayer

 

APAC-Partners, Guest Blog, Parallels APAC Summit

LuxCloud Accelerates Resellers Business in the Cloud

 

This post is part of the Parallels Partner Series, featuring the insights of service providers who are growing by leveraging Parallels software, expertise and ecosystem to meet the cloud computing needs of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). View other posts here.

 

In 2010, LuxCloud saw the opportunity to create a platform to help IT resellers market cloud-based applications on a white-label basis. We knew two things would make this concept compelling to resellers: very low start-up costs – as a result of zero infrastructure investment – and the ability to sell services under one’s own brand. And this was how LuxCloud was born.

 

We were very clear from the beginning that we wanted to offer a platform which allowed resellers to focus on launching new services and thus growing their business.  Addressing issues of incorporating automated business functions (like billing) was important to us, as was the ability to quickly and easily automate the provisioning of services.  In addition, the platform needed to be able to scale as quickly as our reseller partners were able to grow their own businesses.

 

We found our solution in Parallels Automation, which provides a complete and customizable operational and business support system for delivering SaaS. Every aspect of the solution – from service delivery through management and billing – is automated. This enables us and our resellers to rapidly deploy new services while minimizing operational costs and maximizing revenues and profitability.

 

The scalability aspect of Parallels Automation is another draw. As resellers get comfortable with the business model, they can add new services quickly and easily. They can potentially scale up from a few hundred users to even a million from the same platform and without investing in any infrastructure.

 

After receiving training from Parallels, we set up an on-boarding process for our resellers, which enable us to get them up and running within a few days.  For the reseller, this faster time-to-market means better return-on-investment.

 

Within weeks of our launch, we won ten reseller partners across Western Europe, earning very positive feedback for our new delivery platform. What also makes LuxCloud popular among resellers is the ease of use and speed of integration and deployment. And because we take care of all service maintenance and management using Parallels Automation, resellers can focus on their core business – selling and delivering cloud services to their customers.

 

We are making plans to expand our business and services offerings using the Parallels Automation platform to include Microsoft Windows-based shared hosting and other Microsoft hosted applications.  We are also planning to expand the business globally, adding additional services and applications according to market needs and demands.

 

We are using our ‘first-mover advantage’ based on Parallels Automation to create a market niche. While other service providers may recognize the opportunity, our deep understanding of the motivations of resellers, our long-standing relationships with the stakeholders in our ecosystem, and the proven success of our white-label distribution platform, puts us in a leadership position in a burgeoning cloud services distribution market.

 

Marco Houwen

CEO and Founder

LuxCloud

www.luxcloud.com

 

Cloud Services, Guest Blog, Parallels APAC Summit, Virtuozzo Containers

Virtualization as a Differentiator in Southeast Asia

 

This post is part of our ongoing Parallels Partner Series, featuring the insights of service providers who are growing by meeting the cloud computing needs of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).

 

Vodien chose Parallels to be our virtualization partner, and it has been a fruitful partnership on our journey to become a top web hosting provider in Singapore and across the Southeast Asia region.

 

Our key strengths lie in providing product flexibility to customers along with a superior customer support experience.  A significant enabling component of our strategy is based on Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, and we leverage this technology to enable a complete range of web hosting products, from shared hosting to cloud services.

 

What makes us popular as a provider to web hosting customers is that the virtualized hosting environment helps them immediately scale based on their current needs.  As web applications and demand grows, customers can choose to select a higher-tiered web hosting package, and all of this can be accomplished immediately with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers. This allows our customers to enjoy both a cost savings and a more controllable upgrade process, even amidst unpredictable resource-usage.

 

This flexibility based on Parallels technology, combined with Vodien’s 24×7 Super Support team (who provides 2-hour resolution of any customer issue), and our Service Level Agreements (that guarantee the up-time of our network and hardware) truly differentiates our web hosting offering in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

 

Bill Poh
CEO, Vodien
www.vodien.com

 

Uncategorized

Parallels and IBM Join Forces at Telemanagement Forum South Africa

 

This post is from Matt Vasey, Senior Director, System Integrator Alliances, Parallels

 

Parallels recently joined IBM at the Telemanagement (TM) Forum Africa Summit in Johannesburg.  Together, we focused on helping service providers address many of the cloud and hosting issues facing the African communications market.  Like other developing areas, service providers in Africa need to grow and sustain their business, attract and retain their customers and adopt strategies to help differentiate them in the market.  Parallels has grown its presence in Africa during the years with this focus by working closely with partners across the continent.  This includes MTN Cameroon, who has developed an aggressive strategy with the help of Parallels for offering shared hosting, VPS, hosted messaging and other cloud and hosted services. MTNC has launched one of the most complete cloud services portfolios on Parallels Automation in any emerging market, including Microsoft Exchange, and SharePoint, in addition to shared hosting services with Parallels Plesk Panel with Web Presence Builder.  (MTNC is part of the MTNGroup, a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.)

 

I was delighted when IBM invited Parallels to join them at the TM Forum Africa Summit for a number of reasons.  First, IBMs leadership in the telco space, now includes a compelling joint solution for the rapid deployment and integration of our flagship cloud enablement software, Parallels Automation.  Second, I attended a session presented by Gary Cohen, General Manager of IBM’s Global Communications Sector & Chairman, IBM Africa.  Gary’s talk – entitled “Integrated knowledge of customers, processes and business can become the source of true differentiation and accelerated growth”, is a theme you’ve often heard Parallels discussing, too.  So it’s a natural fit that IBM is the latest partner working side-by-side with Parallels.  Together, we’re continued on being focused on helping service providers — in both emerging and established markets around the globe — get their cloud services up and running faster and with the right mix of application bundles. 

 

Follow the ongoing dialogue from TM Forum Africa Summit on Twitter by searching on the hashtag #Africa12.  And expect more to come as a result of Parallels new alliance with IBM.

 

Matt Vasey, Senior Director, System Integrator Alliances, Parallels


Cloud Services, Control Panels, Guest Blog, Plesk Panel 11, SMB

Getting Smart About Webhosting Bundles (Guest Blog)

 

Parallels is happy to present a guest blog post from Infratel CEO, Bryan Goode. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

 

All Add-Ons Are Not Created the Same

 

It is now common to hear industry leaders urge hosting companies to bundle additional services with hosting packages.  Research has consistently shown that adding new services to hosting plans increases average revenue per user [ARPU] and has a positive effect on customer churn rates.

 

But wait, you say – where do I start?  How do I decide what services to bundle with my hosting packages?  Which add-ons best help me increase ARPU and reduce churn?  

 

At Infratel, we believe that you should consider two criteria when deciding which add-ons to include in a bundle:

 

  1. 1) Is this add-on related to the main, anchor product in my hosting plan?
  2. 2) Is this add-on relevant to customers who buy my hosting plans?

 

With these criteria in mind, we’re pleased to announce Infratel ClickConnect for Websites, the ideal add-on for webhosting bundles.  

 

Infratel ClickConnect for Websites is built specifically to be bundled with webhosting plans and allows your users to add ‘Click to Call’ functionality to a site in 30 seconds or less – helping your small business users convert more website visitors into customers!  

 

To make the opportunity even better, Infratel ClickConnect is the entryway into additional telephony services for your customers.   

 

Recent research shows that small businesses truly need a professional phone presence and fewer than 30% of your small business webhosting users have this type of a presence – representing a huge untapped market for the webhosting industry.

 

Get started today bundling Infratel ClickConnect for Websites with your webhosting plans.  To celebrate the Plesk 11 launch, for a limited time we’re offering you a FREE subscription for your own use when you bundle Infratel ClickConnect for Websites with your webhosting plans.  Click here to contact us today!

 

Bryan Goode

 

ple

Parallels Plesk Automation Preview Launches

 

We hope you will consider evaluating the initial Public Preview of Parallels Plesk Automation (PPA).  But, you’re probably asking yourself why is Parallels creating a product like this, and why should I care?

 

Parallels believes that for hosting companies to thrive and succeed, they must stay ahead of the curve. Because of this, we’ve invested considerably in technologies such as support for IPv6, nginx for improved server performance, the flexibility of running Windows Server, your choice of a variety of Linux flavors, and even more features and capabilities that are currently available in our Parallels Plesk Panel 11 product. This investment continues to pay off not just for Parallels, but also for our vast ecosystem of hosters and other service providers who continue to build their businesses with us.  For several years, we’ve been working on what we believe will be the leading-edge hosting infrastructure management and control solution for growing professional hosters: Parallels Plesk Automation.

 

Before I joined Parallels in 2009, the company acquired a number of smaller hosting automation systems.  Many people in the hosting industry questioned these moves, wondering if these products would ever enter the mainstream of Parallels’ product line.  Whatever the perception you might have had at the time, Parallels Plesk Automation grew out of these technology acquisitions

 

By working closely with the customers of these hosting systems, Parallels realized that hosting efficiency is important not only to the largest hosters, but also to small and growing hosters.  Many hosters who started to centralize IP pool management,  e-mail and spam management (not to mention the growing need to manage Linux and Windows Web hosting from a single management node), never wanted to return to the inefficiency of having all hosting services on every single server in their clusters.

 

Don’t get me wrong:  single server products like Parallels Plesk Panel and cPanel fulfill an important purpose.  They are easily installed on a server, so they are a great way to manage a server or to start a hosting business.  Their simplicity makes them a good business for dedicated and virtual server providers – almost like the “do you want fries with that?” question at a fast food drive-thru.  So, infrastructure hosters can easily sell hosting automation software with each server they sell.  However, many existing web hosters using Parallels Plesk Panel and other single-server hosting automation software find that after growing to a few servers, they hit an upper-boundary in ease of management and operational efficiency.

 

The evolutionary challenge in Hosting Automation has been to find a simple, affordable, easily-explained, easily-sold, and easily-bought way to achieve management and growth efficiency.   Putting mail, DNS, databases, and web hosting on every single server in a cluster – which has been the norm – is not that path.

 

By working closely with the vocal and passionate customers of the companies Parallels acquired, we have tried to make Parallels Plesk Automation a unique product that bridges “easily sold and easily bought” with “enables efficiency and growth”.  As I said, many hosters who have tried and experienced hosting clusters with centralized hosting roles (mail, web, etc.) will never go back to all-on-one-server systems – and for good reason.  But, these same hosters need fair pricing, flexibility, and good, fast support.

 

Parallels Plesk Automation takes the learnings from our close interactions with these leading edge small to mid-sized hosters, applies it to the evolution of Parallels’ hosting technologies, and packages it in a way that is easily-bought, easily-sold, and comes at a fair price.  Then we add free and unlimited support.  

 

To explain further:

 

– Learnings from leading edge small and mid-sized hosters:  Simplicity is very important.  Centralized management in multi-server environments must be easy to install and configure, easy to migrate to, and easy to run and manage.   Support for third-party and in-house billing systems must be flexible and open.

 

– Evolution of Parallels Technology:   Parallels Plesk Panel is a simplified yet effective Web hosting system which evolves into Parallels Plesk Automation  to leverage the “industrial strength” hosting management backbone of Parallels Automation, our flagship software for large service providers and hosters.  So, small and growing hosters now have access to the Parallels Automation backbone like our much larger telco and large service provider partners.  And, in future releases, this allows hosting businesses to grow from Shared Hosting into VPS, Cloud, and SaaS hosting.

 

– Easy-to-sell, easy-to-buy, at a fair price:   The beauty of single-server hosting systems (such as Parallels Plesk Panel, cPanel, etc) is that they are priced and sold per server.  This is easy for the buyer (you know how much you’ll pay) and easy for the seller – typically a datacenter – because it can be attached to each server sold.  Parallels Plesk Automation (PPA) will continue to follow this model.  Any leased Parallels Plesk Panel Unlimited Dedicated server license can convert into a PPA node.  Servers in a Parallels Plesk Automation cluster simply require this same type of Parallels Plesk Panel license – which is sold per server – but DNS and DB Servers require no license.  To make it simple, the PPA Management Node software will be a free download from www.parallels.com.  If it is installed on a server with valid license (Parallels Plesk Panel Unlimited Dedicated), you are good to go. 

 

– Enhanced Support:  Plus, because Parallels now offers Free Priority Support for all Parallels Plesk Panel Unlimited Dedicated licenses, you will experience a level of support you may have never expected or experienced from Parallels before.

 

So, it has been a bit of a journey for Parallels in creating Parallels Plesk Automation.  We believe it is a journey toward the future –and we firmly believe that evaluating and moving to Parallels Plesk Automation is the first step on the path to setting up your hosting company for growth and efficiency (not to mention taking your business to the next level).  We’ll explain more of PPA’s growth benefits and plans in the future. 

 

For now, we are proud to be able to offer free Public Previews of Parallels Plesk Automation. This follows four invitation-only private previews, so we’re quite far along on this.  We hope this Preview helps you set up a real-world test in your own environment.  Also, we hope you’ll give us feedback on what you like and what you don’t like, which will positively influence our product direction.

 

Based on your feedback and the success of our previews, we expect Parallels Plesk Automation to release during Q4 of 2012.

 

To apply for the Preview, just visit: www.PleskAutomation.com

 

All the best,

 

Craig Bartholomew

Vice-President, Control Panels and Shared Hosting

Uncategorized

Parallels and Dell Make the Microsoft Cloud Easy for Small and Medium Businesses

 

Dell has a long history of making it easy for customers to get what they need. I remember helping a friend’s father get a new Dell PC at an Austin direct retail shop in 1990.  I was amazed at how easy they made it to get up and running.  Dell had taken out so much friction of what was then usually a convoluted and long value chain.  At Parallels, we pride ourselves on being the hosting and cloud services enablement market leader.  We work with service providers to meet the IT needs of small and medium businesses – and just like Dell, we are obsessed with making it easy, with eliminating friction. So when Dell is moving to serve its customers in the cloud, we feel there’s a natural fit.  Together, we make it easy for Dell’s business customers to purchase and use the cloud services they need.

 

In fact, we work so well together that in a matter of weeks, Parallels and Dell were able to deploy Parallels Automation  and launch Microsoft Office 365.

 

Of course, this is only the beginning. Now that Dell has deployed Parallels Automation, it’s easy for them to add more cloud services. Parallels Automation software includes delivery capabilities for Microsoft applications and other services that have been certified with the Application Packaging Standard (APS), a “pluggable” approach to enabling hosted and cloud applications and services. With over 400 cloud applications for Dell to choose from and more being added every day, Dell will be able to give their customers exactly what they need for their business.

 

Try it out and let me know what you think.

 

Birger Steen
CEO Parallels
b@parallels.com

 

Cloud Services, Events, Gartner, Marketing, Parallels Automation, service provider, WPC12

Parallels Named a “Cool Vendor” in Cloud Services by Industry Research Firm

 

 

RENTON, WA and TORONTO – July 10, 2012 – Parallels® (www.parallels.com), the hosting and cloud services enablement leader, today announced technology research firm Gartner has recognized Parallels as a Cool Vendor for 2012 in the recent report, “Cool Vendors in Cloud Services Brokerage Enablers, 2012.” The report recognizes those firms with new and innovative technologies for delivering cloud brokerage services. This announcement was made during the 2012 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, taking place this week in Toronto through July 12.

 

Recognized for its Parallels Automation software, including Parallels Automation for Cloud Marketplace, Parallels is helping service providers profit from the growing demand in Small and Medium Business (SMB) cloud services. Parallels Automation is a complete operational and business support system that automates all aspects of delivering, managing and billing for service providers, enabling them to offer services ranging from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to Platform and Software as a Service (PaaS and SaaS).  Parallels also pre-negotiates wholesale contracts with ISVs and SaaS providers, and arranges relationships with customer support companies, enabling providers to create a Cloud Services Brokerage quickly and efficiently.  Additionally, Parallels Automation for Cloud Marketplace has a flexible architecture that makes it easy for providers to add additional applications enabled by the open Application Packaging Standard (APS). 

 

“We are honored to be recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Cloud Services Brokerage Enablement,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Parallels. “With Parallels Automation, including our Cloud Marketplace and our growing list of APS packaged applications, we are making it easy for service providers to quickly and efficiently deliver the full suite of Microsoft hosted applications that meet the diverse needs of SMBs.”

 

Parallels recently announced the general availability of Parallels Automation 5.4, the latest version of the most comprehensive hosting and cloud services delivery system used by hundreds of service providers worldwide — from the world’s largest telecom operators to top hosters and providers of vertical solutions (see the Gartner report for a list of reference partners). Parallels Automation 5.4 now includes support for delivering Microsoft® Lync and other Microsoft® hosted applications, and its built-in Parallels Windows Server® Provisioning Engine helps service providers manage the migration of Microsoft Hosted Exchange® and other applications from Microsoft’s former Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) solution.  

 

The full Gartner report is available courtesy of Parallels here.

 

About Parallels
Parallels is a worldwide leader in hosting and cloud service enablement and desktop virtualization. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with more than 900 employees in North America, Europe, and Asia.

 

For information on Parallels, visit www.parallels.com/spp, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ParallelsCloud and Like Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ParallelsCloud.

 

Disclaimer: 

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

 

 

Control Panels, Guest Blog, Plesk Panel 11

Host-IT Now Offering Plesk 11

 

Host-IT have been providing Virtual Hosting, VPS Services and operating our own UK Data Centre’s since 1995. As a provider of outstanding hosting products we are actively participating in the official launch of the long awaited Parallels Plesk Panel 11.

 

When we heard about the launch of the new Plesk 11 Panel we immediately began testing the new platform and we found the look and feel to the new interface and business model to be perfect for our customers.  We will be offering the Plesk 11 with all new VPS and dedicated server plans as of the launch date of June 26th.