Parallels’ Innovation – It’s Extreme!

Parallels is proud to announce a new product today which changes the face of PC virtualization: Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme. Just as Parallels was the first to bring you container-based virtualization and the ability to virtualize on a Mac, we bring you yet another industry first. Designed for high-end businesses and developers, Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme is workstation virtualization software which does what no virtualization product on the market has been able to do before: allowing direct access to PCI devices, giving virtual environments full performance for both graphics and networking!

This is awesome news for many users out there who are stuck using multiple PCs to accomplish advanced graphical work like 3D rendering, modeling and animation. It will allow developers and engineers to run everything they need simultaneously on a single multi-monitor workstation, including multiple PC operating systems, resulting in a totally seamless work environment. There's a video below which shows this in action, running Microsoft Vista 64-bit, Windows XP 64-bit, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux at the same time, each of which has direct access to its own NVIDIA Quadro graphics card within a single machine. Notice the SmartMouse sweeping across all five monitors to interact with the multiple OSes? You can copy, paste and share the clipboard as well, just like you're used to doing in all Parallels VMs. It's a beautiful thing to see for anyone even remotely involved with 3D graphics.

The official press release is HERE, and it has all the juicy details. This new product represents a collaboration between Parallels, NVIDIA (with their new SLI Multi-OS graphics technology) and Intel (with VT-D implemented in their newest processors). For now, our product is available exclusively on the new HP Z800 Workstation, which is designed to handle exactly the sort of intensive workload that Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme works perfectly with.

AMD Virtualization Ecosystems Month

Virtualization continues to be a hot topic, with Gartner making some exciting predictions today about the future of hosted virtual desktops. We agree that the future of virtualization is bright, and we’ve been celebrating AMD's Virtualization Ecosystems Month throughout March.

Virtualization Ecosystems Month is all about education and appreciation. Educating people about virtualization in the marketplace, and sending appreciation for all those involved in the IT industry that help implement and grow the technology behind virtual solutions. If you haven't yet checked out AMD's site for the event, there's a lot of information on their YouTube channel, Facebook page, as well as their blog.

Speaking of blogs, as part of its Virtualization Ecosystems Month, AMD will be guest blogging for us next week, and likewise we’ve been invited to write something for their blog. Unofficially, this has been labeled as the "blogger upgrade campaign". Bryan Goode, VP of Business Development at Parallels will be flown to AMD HQ and thoroughly tested using machines typically designed for benchmarking hardware. His brain will then be replaced by a shiny new Opteron processor, allowing him to blog several times faster than the average human.  I’m actually pretty jealous.

At the same time, AMD's Margaret Lewis will be flown to Parallels HQ and coated in a thin layer of cotton candy. She will then be virtualized, and will leave the test chamber as 5 or 6 people instead of one; thus multiplying efficiency and output.

Parallels has partnered with AMD for a long time, so it's great to be able to help them celebrate virtualization through March. For more information on Virtualization Ecosystems Month - again, you can visit AMD's Virtualization Blog HERE.

Serguei Says: Citrix sets XenServer "Free"

There's some big news out for the world of server virtualization. Citrix has announced that it is going to offer its server virtualization product, XenServer, for free, though users will still have to pay for the associated management tools.  In the second of our “Serguei Says…” series, our CEO, Serguei Beloussov, shares his thoughts on the move…  

“It comes as no surprise to us that Citrix is offering XenServer for free.  We predicted this would happen as most Citrix customers are really just looking for a well-supported Windows platform, and since Microsoft launched Hyper-V, they can get what they need directly from source.  To really get value from Citrix, customers need to buy a Windows license anyway, so they may as well get their virtualization engine included.  

“XenServer was really never a serious threat in the SMB, service provider or even enterprises spaces, though Citrix has enjoyed success with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure due to XenApp (formerly Citrix Presentation Server), effectively an extension to Microsoft Terminal Server.  This will probably continue to be the case, even though its close connection with Microsoft does not always help its cause.  

“I make the further prediction that Citrix will stop developing XenServer altogether since it is not needed to make XenApp work.  This will signal the eventual end of XEN.  You really have to applaud Microsoft’s Server group here: XEN could have been a serious competitor to them, but instead it ended up being a partner and technology provider.  Now, when the difficult economic climate could have created considerable opportunities for the open source XEN offering, it is instead largely out of the picture due to its relationship with Citrix, and by extension with Microsoft.   

“Either way, this is good for us: as the proliferation of virtualization increases, users need automation solutions that enable them to increase their return on investment and reduce the total cost of ownership associated with managing complex IT infrastructures.  Automation is what we have been doing for the past ten years and we have a proven track record of working with organizations of all sizes to simplify and streamline their IT management.”

Yes, yes, I know, we also sell virtualization, so shouldn’t we also comment on that? Serguei focused on automation because management tools are crucial, both in terms of understanding what “free” really means, and in terms of optimizing the computing environment to keep costs low. You see, it’s as we said when both VMware and Microsoft launched “free” hypervisors – in effect they aren’t really free since all that’s being given away is the basic hypervisor engine.  User organizations will still need to pay for all those expensive extras such as management tools and maintenance that make virtualization a viable business tool.  When you factor in those costs, the solution ends up far from free.  

In truth, with the financial pressures currently placed on businesses, the really important cost factor is not the price of the hypervisor; it is the total cost of ownership (TCO). The hypervisor is really a very slight cost when compared with buying, running and maintaining hardware, storage, networking and OS licenses.  As such, the density of virtual servers that can be run on each physical box is paramount and this is where a Containers or OS-level virtualization approach (such as Parallels Virtuozzo Containers) really comes into its own, offering 3-5 times more virtual servers per box than a hypervisor such as XenServer, or for that matter, ESXi Server or Hyper-V.     

Blue Skies in Cannes, but We're Talking Clouds

This week some of the Parallels team is attending a certain virtualization event being held in Cannes, France.  Amongst the main headline activities at the event is a presentation from our very own CEO, Serguei Beloussov, entitled: “Cloud Computing with Parallels: Automate, Virtualize and Save – Now”.  The session is at 3.15pm on Wednesday, 25th February in the Verriere Californie room. 

Serguei will offer insight into how organizations can significantly reduce their total costs of ownership (TCO) through adopting the cloud model, whilst also increasing operational agility and effectiveness.  This was a very hot topic at our own Parallels Summit 2009, held just a few weeks ago in Las Vegas, and it is clear that in the current economic climate, reducing costs and focusing staff and resources on core business activities is a must.  Drawing on Parallels' considerable (10 years!) experience in this space, Serguei will investigate how virtualization and automation technologies enable cloud computing. He will go further, taking the conversation to the next level by providing practical guidance on how organizations can reduce costs and become more responsive to their changing business needs and goals today, not just in the (rather unpredictable) future.

Parallels will be at booth 92 in the Solutions Exchange hall and just in case our exciting range of products (Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, Parallels Automation, Parallels Desktop for Mac to name just 3!) isn’t enough to lure you over, we also have a one armed bandit to help demonstrate how we offer the lowest TCO of all the virtualization vendors.  That’s a fun and exciting slot machine, not a moustached, lop-sided criminal.  Our motto – have some fun gambling on our booth, not with your TCO.  See what we did there?

We’ll also be tweeting from the event – follow us at Twitter (Parallels_HQ) as well as providing a daily diary from the show for Virtual Strategy Magazine.

Serguei Says: Cisco to buy EMC?

As many of you have noticed, this blog is changing things up a tad. Just before we began coverage for Parallels Summit 2009, the name changed from “Virtualization Inc.” to “Between the Lines.” 

 

So what does “Between the Lines” mean? Well, as you can see in the summary above, it’s an inside look at what Parallels thinks about the world of virtualization. We’ll tell you what we see coming down the line; what we have in the works; and basically how we, as a company, can help individuals, businesses and service providers optimize computing in their world. 

A new recurring segment of this blog will be ‘Serguei Says’ – where we share the thoughts and opinions of Parallels’ CEO Serguei Beloussov. There are no limits to the topic of conversation. You may be wondering how we acquire these personal thoughts and opinions from Serguei, and the answer is simple: We’ve tapped his phone line.

 

This segment’s topic: Will Cisco attempt to buy EMC?

 

This was a question recently brought up in a Reuters article here:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/americasMergersNews/idUKN1132714120090211

 

The article explains that there has been talk; mutterings; whispers in the dark from an unknown origin, that maybe possibly perhaps Cisco is building up funds in preparation for a large purchase, and that there had been informal meetings between the two companies where they discussed the above issue.

 

The article also mentions that Cisco may specifically look to target VMware, a large part of EMC’s business which you may have heard of. This would significantly drop the $30 billion price tag, and give Cisco what is possibly of the most value to them: virtualization technology to include with all their hardware.

 

So the question everyone is asking is “Will this thing happen any time soon?”

 

Serguei Says: Unlikely

 

While there might be some truth to the rumor, and it might make sense for Cisco from a general outlook, Serguei explains such a deal is unlikely to happen soon due to the current economic climate and resulting low prices.  EMC is not going to be in any rush to sell when it is still growing quickly, generating cash and generally performing well on its current track. Selling in a hurry just complicates the deal.

 

In fact, Serguei doubts that EMC would separate VMware and sell it by itself anyway since it’s the main growth engine and technology asset for EMC.  On the other hand, Cisco is unlikely to want to own EMC’s high end storage business, so the two parties may fail to reach an agreement anyway.

 

If it does happen, though, it will make Cisco a very dangerous entity for IBM, HP, Dell and others. More significantly, it will also give Cisco an integrated network, hardware and software (OS?) offering that would put them in serious competition with Microsoft (kind of like Apple is now, but on the enterprise level).  At present, Cisco already competes with IBM, HP and Dell, but it partners with Microsoft, so this would be a major about-face for them.  

In fact, if the acquisition went ahead, the most momentous change overall would probably be in the landscape of their potential partnership deals. There are loyalty conflicts to consider when taking on new business rivals.

 

Cisco has done an amazing job integrating various assets into their business model in the past though. The most impressive was the integration of the telephony companies recently. With this in mind, Serguei feels that if they did wind up owning VMware and/or EMC – the IT industry would change in a big way. Plus, if it did happen, it would be great for Parallels, since we’d be an ideal partner for IBM, HP, Dell and others!

 

PS – What would happen then if Cisco were to team up with Apple? Wow…

Papa's Got a Brand New... Container Solution

Parallels is proud to present the Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.5 for Windows beta program! Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is Parallels' popular solution for virtualizing operating systems on an enterprise scale. More on the current retail version HERE.

Those interested in participating in the 4.5 beta can find details at this page. Keep in mind that those who participate are urged to provide as much feedback as possible during your experience, as it's extremely important for the development process. Bug reports, feature ideas, favorite elements - everything. You want us to put out a top notch piece of software, and we most definitely want to provide one... it works out for everybody!

Enough preamble. Those whose interests I've sparked can look forward to the following key features in Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.5:

• Optimizing Server Virtualization for Windows Server 2008

• Enhanced CPU Resource Management

• Improved Network Performance

• Configurable Container Startup Order

Again, further details, the manual and the download link can be found at this page: 

http://www.parallels.com/download/virtuozzo45beta/windows/

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Things were moving very fast yesterday, which was good for material, bad for me actually posting that material. Here's a little bit about our opening tracks yesterday, as well as pictures.

Bill McNee, President and CEO, Saugatuck Technology, opened with "Blue Skies? Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing and SaaS"

• What is cloud computing exactly?
• How do we think cloud computing will grow? Bill explains how the cloud market is truly just getting started.
• Liam Eagle of the WHIR has a full article HERE on the presentation, and I believe the official event video is forthcoming.

Shortly after, Dave Wright, Industry Director SaaS/ISVs, Microsoft, took the stage to speak about "How we will REALLY move to the Cloud: the coming partnerships between hosters and cloud platform providers"

 

• Overcoming datacenter tradeoffs of cost flexibility and performance and how cloud computing has some key obstacles such as adaptability to complex and high variable environments.
• The value of cloud computing is undeniable.
• How Microsoft is your best cloud partner for both integrated cloud and hosted platforms.
• Again, Liam Eagle of the WHIR has more details in an article HERE.

Thirdly, Paul Ghostine, Vice President and General Manager of Provision Networks, gave a motivating presentation - "Are you ready for desktops as a service?"

• Don't walk. Run!
• SaaS business, specifically desktop as a service, is a readily available market.
• Even though the competition is big, powerful and has deep pockets; they're also faceless. As a smaller service provider has the strength in locality, being regionally closer to your customers and more nimble to change, and many with over a decade of experience.
• Liam had NO blog on Paul Ghostine's presentation (gasp). I think we can cut him a break, though, as he was most likely off covering 3 different speeches at once. I don't think that man eats or sleeps, but he apparently does golf when forced to.

Chip Dumping

Well obviously the Parallels Summit 2009 is over at this time. The event was an awesome success; I think everyone had a great experience. There are plenty more pictures to put up, as well as a wrap-up to this live blog on the event. 

Many were flying back home yesterday, including myself. Many are still flying back home - gotta love those 20-hour flights, not that I'd know what that particular madness feels like.

Expect another update here very soon.

A Full House

It was tough, but I think everyone somehow managed to have a good time at the party last night. It was held at the Mix Lounge in THE Hotel - which is right next to the Mandalay Bay, see?

The celebration was in honor of the recent Parallels Plesk Panel 9.0 launch. The turnout was huge, the bar was open, the pillows were fluffy, the view was fantastic, the blackjack tables were manned and... what am I missing? *stares off into oblivion* Oh well, here are some pictures:

As you can see, it was a great night for networking and relaxation. A big thank you to THE Hotel for having us. For those who attended the Parallels Summit and were for some reason unable to make it to the party, you now know the reason your coworkers weren't answering their phones this morning.

Straight Flushed

Good morning - Day 2 of Parallels Summit 2009

I'm currently sitting at the keynote speech: Bill McNee, President and CEO, Saugatuck Technology - "Blue Skies? Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing and SaaS"

Bill started on a fairly amusing note; the fact that many people, including professionals (maybe especially the professionals?), have no firm definition whatsoever of what cloud computing is. It encompasses too much. There are too many different methods and technologies at work. It's sort of like the Matrix, nobody can be told what it is - you have to see it for yourself, which is what Bill is basically presenting.

Soon I'll be posting some photos from last night. As you can see from the posts yesterday, there were plenty of speaking events on the agenda. One very interesting panel yesterday was covered in a full article by Liam Eagle from the WHIR (which also happened to be moderated by Mr. McNee, we're putting him to work this year)

Afterwards there was a break, and then many attended the Plesk Panel 9.0 launch party at the miX Lounge in (THE Hotel). I'm not going to say much until the pictures are up, because I think they'll speak for themselves. I think many are still feeling a bit fuzzy this morning. Unfortunately I have to pick and choose which photos are acceptable to show everyone... the rest I save for later blackmailing.