Parallels, Inc.

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Parallels, Inc.
Type Privately held company
Genre Virtualization
Founded 1999
Headquarters Flag of Switzerland Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland[1]
Industry Computer software
Products [2] Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels Workstation
Parallels Server
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers
Plesk
HSPcomplete
Compressor Server
Compressor Workstation
PEM
Parallels Infrastructure Manager
Parallels Automation
Parallels Plesk Products
Parallels Server for Mac
Employees 900+ (as of May 2008)
Website parallels.com

Parallels, Inc. is a privately-held virtualization technology company with offices all around the world (USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine). Parallels US offices are in Seattle, WA and Washington, D.C.. The company currently has over 900 employees.

Parallels is best known for its MacIntel-based product Parallels Desktop for Mac, introduced one day after the announcement of Apple Inc.'s Boot Camp. Parallels uses Intel Core's virtualization technology to allow the virtual machine direct access to the host computer's processor. Parallels also offers Parallels Workstation, a virtualization product for use on Microsoft Windows or Linux and is planning to release Parallels Server in 2008. Parallels' major competitor is VMware.

Parallels, Inc. was an SWsoft company until January, 2008 [3], 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.[4] The merger was formalized in January 2008. [5]

Contents

[edit] Company History

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

[edit] Products

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 and CD drives, and tools. Parallels, Inc. released Parallels Workstation first and released Parallels Desktop for Mac second.

[edit] Parallels Desktop for Mac

First released June 25, 2006, Parallels Desktop for Mac enables users to run Windows simultaneously with Mac OS X on their iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac Pro. It requires Mac OS X "Tiger" 10.4.6 or higher as the primary operating system. Parallels Desktop for Mac is a hardware emulation virtualization software that uses a lightweight hypervisor to give the guest OS access to the computer's hardware by mapping the host computer’s hardware resources directly to the virtual machine’s resources. It directly competes with VMware Fusion, both being able to run on an x86 Intel-powered Mac.

[edit] Parallels Workstation

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 virtualization technologies such as Intel Virtualization Technology.

[edit] Parallels Server for Mac

First introduced in alpha code at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2007 in San Francisco, California, Parallels Server for Mac will reportedly allow IT managers to run multiple server operating systems on a single Mac Xserve[16]. As of January 10, 2008, this software is in beta testing[17].

[edit] Parallels Virtuozzo Containers

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. 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

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