Category Archives: Parallels Automation

APS, Cloud Services, Parallels Automation

What’s New and Growing in APS

 

Continued growth of global Parallels Automation deployments is providing valuable insights into the cloud applications, and more specifically, the APS-enabled cloud applications that are gaining traction with service providers and with SMBs. Below are a few key trends:

 

  • Cloud portfolios differ greatly between service providers and are shaped by key variables including core services offered, market segment served, and the individual cloud strategy of the provider. The APS catalog is growing both in diversity of cloud categories supported, and diversity of ISVs supporting each category. This continued growth is helping service providers to really tailor their offering to address unique market demands, and to compete with other providers in the regions they serve.

 

  • Email is the common denominator for just about all service provider cloud portfolios. As would be expected, we see strong and consistent numbers for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365. Open-Xchange and Mail2World are gaining strong traction with providers offering a white-label, low-cost email services that can also be bundled with core–or other cloud–services. Email security and archiving services continue to be a popular and natural add-on for business-class email.

 

  • Microsoft Lync is gaining wide adoption with service providers in all global regions, and is delivering strong and consistent growth rates in both instances and end-user seats. Deployed in fall 2012, the Microsoft Lync APS package is a proving to be a winner for service providers who have the right channels and sales engagement models. Microsoft’s Lync 2013 Hosting Pack, released this past May, is further accelerating provider deployments.

 

  • Web presence continues to be an in-demand cloud category, particularly in maturing markets such as Latin America and Asia. For Parallels Automation partners self-hosting their web presence solution, success is supported by website builders and marketing tools such as Parallels Web Presence Builder. Growth in providers outsourcing their web presence solutions is supported by APS-enabled ISVs such as Hostopia and ePages.

 

  • Business applications are varied with strong global and region-specific growth. Vidyo, Deskera and Hightail (formally Yousendit) are just a few of the business application providers to join the APS community this past year. While many of these APS packages serve a global market, others, such as Moysklad, a Russian-language CRM application, target specific regions and are showing strong growth with that focus. Business applications are absolutely leading APS cloud category growth, even outperforming Parallels SMB Cloud Insights research expectations.

To dig deeper into these trends and understand how they apply to your market, contact your Parallels account lead to schedule a market review, or contact me directly at srowan@parallels.com.

 

Steph Rowan, Market Development, Parallels

srowan@parallels.com

 

 

Bagful Solutions, Cloud Services, Growth, Industry & Market Insights, LuxCloud, Parallels Automation, Partners & Customers, Triple C

Growth is the New ‘Parallels Red’

 

I was recently reviewing the more than 80 case studies and video case studies we have published. It reminded me of a few trends we are seeing.

 

Time to deployment is clearly important but not a guarantee of success. This industry is at a stage where we know how to launch services and launch them quickly. What is less common is how to grow the customer base. I took a look at some of our more successful partners to see if there was a pattern…there is.

 

They know their customer. They have an anchor service that gets the customer what they need. They also have the appropriate set of add-on services to go beyond and delight the customer. Here are several examples I pulled from a couple case studies:

 

“We have implemented almost every Parallels Automation module there is. That proves our confidence in the solution. In the two and a half years since we launched our Parallels Automation platform, we have achieved year-on-year growth of over 200% in cloud services. We expect to exceed that in 2013.”

— Ely Cohen, CTO, Triple C

 

“In the last 18 months, our business with Limestone Networks has grown by 300%. We serve more customers, and have a bigger server requirement from Limestone. It is a win-win thing.”

— Sham Kamboj, Director of Services, Bagful Solutions

 

“The ability to evolve Hosted365 quickly, and its appeal to both resellers and other service providers around the world, is driving our growth as a company. And it’s all being made possible by Parallels Automation and the Application Packaging Standard.”

— Marco Houwen, LuxCloud CEO and Founder

 

Do you have a growth story you want to share?

 

John Zanni, Vice President, SP Marketing and Alliances, Parallels

jzanni@parallels.com

 

 

Cloud Services, Events, Microsoft, Parallels Automation, WPC

Best of Class clouds use Microsoft and Parallels because that is what customers want.

 

Did you know that there are over 400 services that can be sold through Parallels Service delivery platform? These are all based on the APS standard. It is important to have such a broad portfolio as the cloud needs of SMBs are quite diverse. At the same time, there are a core set of services that customers expect. They include Web Hosting, Email, Collaboration and Infrastructure. In most cases the preferred choice of customers are Microsoft products. This is why Parallels has always made sure that Parallels software and Microsoft software work well together and that we always have the latest and greatest versions available.

 

We make this happen by spending time with Microsoft engineers in the product groups and Microsoft sales and marketing in the field. It assures us that we are building solutions that are optimized for service providers and bring out the best of Microsoft products and services.

 

This has enabled above market growth rates from our service provider partners for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office 365, and Microsoft Lync.

 

This week we have updates for all of these products as well as a few more including Microsoft Lync Hosting Pack and soon, Microsoft Azure Pack for Hosting Providers.

 

If you want to offer Microsoft-based cloud services and offer them soon, let me know.

 

Thank you Microsoft for being a great partner.

 

John Zanni, Vice President SP Marketing and Alliances

 

Control Panels, Parallels Automation, Parallels Plesk Automation, Plesk Panel 11

Now Available: Parallels Plesk Automation with Free Unlimited Support

 

As you consider the next steps in growing your hosting business, Parallels recommends to start centralizing your mail and spam management, and consider offering both Linux and Windows web hosting from the same integrated hosting system.  Our new Parallels Plesk Automation enables you to do all of this from a central management node/administrative control panel with easier updating. Because this server architecture separates your automation and panel from your hosting nodes, Parallels Plesk Automation delivers superior security and uptime.

 

Parallels understands that fast problem resolution and uptime are both critically important to professional hosters.  So, to prove this, we’re offering free support with Parallels Plesk Automation.  This support offer covers all of your nodes (each of which require Parallels Plesk Panel Unlimited Dedicated licenses).  This means Parallels will provide support for your Management Node as well as your Web Hosting and Mail nodes.

 

But, we also recognize that self-help and the ability to identify and reduce problems before they happen are big factors in maximizing your uptime.  We have tried to streamline Parallels Plesk Automation to make it simple to install, configure, and run.   When you add a new node, you can select one of many pre-configured workloads to install on it.  When you want to attach an existing Parallels Plesk Panel server, we give you the choice between assimilating it – where no website settings are touched – or transferring it, where it moves into the new cluster but can be reverted back out. If you do encounter a problem that requires troubleshooting, you will be able to easily find the tools to help you do so on this dedicated support site here.

 

Parallels has made a strong commitment to improving the usability of our software, self-help tools, and support experience.  As you contemplate adopting Parallels Plesk Automation, we hope you’ll consider all of our new enhancements and free support offer.  We are trying to provide the best growth path forward in all of our next gen hosting systems, and our commitment to an enhanced support experience is a central part of this value.

 

Thanks for considering the new Parallels Plesk Automation.  We look forward to growing with you.

 

All the best,

 

Craig Bartholomew
Vice President Panel Products, Parallels


APAC-Partners, Parallels Automation

When Change is Constant

 

The business of web hosting can be a rollercoaster ride sometimes. There’s always a new patch, an upgrade, or new technology and products. Things move so quickly that customers are often left bewildered by the rate of change.

 

There has been a growing demand for web hosting services as a result of customers’ shrinking budgets, growing operational costs and the speed at which market opportunities are developing. When deciding on a hosting service, customers often focus on the speed of service delivery, the ability to localize and local data sovereignty.

 

Through our use of Parallels Automation, ReadySpace has put together different service packages that add value to our clients’ operations and meet their specific needs. Our white label offering allows our clients to leverage our platform to quickly brand and start selling to their customers without heavy infrastructural investment.

 

We can’t predict what the world will be like five years from now, but we can be certain change will be a constant. In the near future, we believe more and more applications will converge. This will result in more regulation and the need for localization. All these will change the landscape.

 

But by partnering with Parallels, we are ready for change. By offering a brand of hosting that is as efficient and practical as it is flexible and cutting edge, we believe we can continue to meet the needs of our customers, as we face the changes of the future together.

 

David Loke

CEO and Co-Founder

ReadySpace

http://www.readyspace.com.sg/

 

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

 

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. 

 

 

Marketing, Parallels Automation, Saas, service provider, Small Businesses, Software as a service

Parallels Automation 5.4 Launches, Delivering Enterprise-Grade Hosted PBX, Microsoft® Lync and Microsoft® Hosted Exchange Capabilities

 

Additional features, including the new Parallels Web Presence Builder, are specifically designed for service providers to meet the growing demand for cloud services by small and medium businesses (SMBs)

 

We are excited to announce 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. 

 

Among the new cloud service delivery capabilities in Parallels Automation 5.4 is a suite of communications and collaboration features, including a full-featured virtual PBX enablement solution for delivering hosted BroadSoft BroadWorks PBX and hosted Microsoft® Lync™ services. These features are designed specifically to meet the growing demands of small and medium businesses (SMBs) for hosted PBX and other cloud applications. According to Parallels SMB Cloud Insights™, the market for hosted communications and collaboration services experienced a 75% year-over-year growth in 2012, reaching $2.5B and is expected to carry a 35% CAGR through 2014.

 

The new hosted communications and collaboration capabilities in Parallels Automation 5.4 enables hosters of any size to launch much needed hosted PBX services, bundled with business email, instant messaging and other services.  These services are suited to meet the communications needs of SMBs, whether they are replacing a legacy PBX system or moving to their very first PBX service. Parallels has also simplified the deployment of these services by partnering with best-in-breed providers to add flexibility and enhanced capabilities.  Hosters can choose to integrate these services with their own BroadSoft Broadworks solution, or use wholesale services enabled by preferred partners Apptix, Alteva and Sipcom.  

 

In addition, Parallels Automation 5.4 delivers hosted Microsoft Lync services, appealing to the 178 million employees of SMBs worldwide who seek to leverage cloud-based messaging, collaboration and unified communications across desktops, laptops and mobile devices. Microsoft Lync also includes built-in web and call conferencing support and is a natural upsell to those SMBs already utilizing Microsoft Exchange, either on-premises or in a hosted environment. Parallels Automation 5.4 also provides billing automation and provisioning of this and other hosted Microsoft services, while enabling additional application integration of other hosted third-party applications from leading ISVs.

 

“Parallels Automation continues to be a competitive differentiator for Apptix and a key reason why blue chip channel partners are turning to Apptix to drive their cloud success,” said Joy Nemitz, Chief Marketing Officer, Apptix. “It provides a single platform for provisioning, management, and billing of all of our Cloud services and allows us to beat our competitors to market with new services and capabilities into the market – such as Microsoft Lync.”

 

“Parallels Automation continues to be the platform of choice for service providers seeking to profit from the rapidly-growing opportunity for delivering cloud services to SMBs,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Parallels. “With the addition of hosted PBX, and Microsoft Lync, Parallels Automation is delivering even more opportunities for service providers to meet the diverse needs of SMBs.”

 

In addition to the Hosted PBX and Microsoft Lync capabilities, Parallels Automation 5.4 also delivers number of enhancements, including:

 

  • • Updated Control Panel – Parallels Automation has an entirely refreshed end-user control panel. Many scenarios have been optimized based on customer input and the look and feel has been unified with Parallels Plesk Panel to offer a common interface throughout all Parallels control panels. These and other new self-service features make Parallels Automation more efficient for both the service provider and their end-user customers.

 

  • • New Parallels Web Presence Builder – As the worldwide market for Web presence is expected to grow to $12.6 billion by 20141, hosters continue to seek ways to capitalize on this growing market, to differentiate their offers and grow their service revenue. The new Parallels Web Presence Builder features prebuilt site templates with customized text for more than 75 different industries – enabling SMBs to set up a complete, professional-looking website in record time.  Parallels Web Presence Builder also enables users to easily customize website content, integrate it with Facebook, and let visitors share content on popular social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

  • • Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine (WPE) – As Microsoft has wound down its Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) solution, service providers will have to find a new platform to deliver hosted and syndicated Microsoft Exchange and other tools. Parallels Automation 5.4 is a leading Microsoft-certified solution that allows service providers to migrate their customers from HMC to future hosted e-mail and other applications.  This includes Hosted Exchange 2010 SP2 services via Parallels WPE, which enables the migration from older Exchange versions.

 

 

The market continues to take notice of Parallels momentum. In a recently published report, technology industry research firm IDC states, “Given Parallels’ current base of 5,000 partners/customers in the SMB IT channel (hosting providers, resellers, and integrators) and market penetration of the Parallels Plesk Panel product (50% market share in the control panel segment), IDC believes that the company is well positioned to establish an up-the-stack presence in the service delivery/enablement platforms of SMB cloud IT supply chain participants.”2 The full IDC report is available for download from Parallels Web site at: http://bit.ly/yt6kg7

 

For more information on Parallels Automation, visit: http://www.parallels.com/products/automation/

 

 

1 Parallels SMB Cloud Insights, 2012

2 IDC, Parallels Private Vendor Watchlist Profile: Helping Service Providers Compete in the Cloud, doc #233149, Feb. 2012


APS, APS Partners, Cloud Services, Events, Marketing, Parallels Automation, Saas, service provider, Small Businesses, Software as a service, Webinar

APS and SaaS Webinar for Service Providers featuring Solgari, Ecwid, VMWare and Quest

 

Our recent case study describes how leading Hong Kong hosting service provider, Pacificnet Hosting Limited (PacHosting), used Parallels Application Packaging Standard (APS) to broaden its portfolio and reduce time-to-market for new services. With APS, PacHosting was able to create new revenue opportunities in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) space and rapidly ramp-up services. We have arranged for some leaders in the SaaS field to explain how your business can profit like PacHosting by offering the most in-demand applications to small and medium business customers. This is a great opportunity for service providers to learn how to easily market and sell high-demand commercial applications and services, and how Parallels can help providers of any size be successful in increasing ARPU and reducing customer churn.

 

This month’s scheduled presentations include:

 

Solgari – Discover the fantastic opportunity to provide Solgari Hosted PBX & Voice Services to your business customers

Ecwid – Find out how you can grow your ecommerce base with our 100% AJAX widget shopping cart

VMware – Learn how Zimbra Collaboration Server allows you to offer an advanced enterprise email & calendaring solution at a low TCO

Quest – Discover the many benefits of Quest’s OnDemand Migration for Email

 

Webinar starts Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 8am PDT. Don’t miss it – Register now!