RENTON, Wash., Jan. 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Parallels, Inc. (formerly SWsoft) today announced that the latest version of its container-based server virtualization software -- Parallels Virtuozzo Containers -- is now generally available. Version 4.0 includes enhancements and features designed to improve usability, data center management and business continuity.
"The ever-changing needs of today's enterprise data centers call for a virtualization solution that is flexible and delivers high performance," said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. "With the release of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0, we are launching the next wave of virtualization, including a suite of products that help IT administrators effectively manage their growing virtual infrastructures."
Beloussov continued that Parallels customers are already doing large-scale virtualization deployments, including service provider data centers and software-as-a-service applications. "Parallels offers the right technological approach coupled with the best economics to deliver a comprehensive suite of virtualization and automation products for any hardware or software environment," said Beloussov.
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is different from traditional hardware virtualization solutions in that it dynamically partitions a single Windows or Linux operating system instance into highly efficient and scalable virtual environments or "containers."
By delivering native server performance, Virtuozzo virtualization can be used with performance-sensitive workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases that are not practical with other virtualization solutions due to their associated overhead and the performance penalties that are incurred.
Also, Parallels Virtuozzo offers three times the density or more versus other solutions, which permits data center managers to maximize the number of virtual containers per each physical server. In fact, Virtuozzo is the only virtualization solution that enables dozens to hundreds of containers to immediately and automatically leverage hardware, resulting in exceptional data center efficiency from administrative, ROI and energy-consumption perspectives.
Along with the increased density capabilities, IT administrators can reduce operating system sprawl in the data center by using Virtuozzo. "We were impressed by the Beta and are looking forward to implementing Virtuozzo 4.0," said Robert Berry, Director of Technical Services, Homes & Land Magazine. "The new centralized management and networking options in the tools will make managing our virtualized data center even easier."
"With the Virtuozzo product, Parallels is focused on taking virtualization to the next level," said John Humphreys, Program Vice President with IDC's Enterprise Platform Group. "By virtualizing above the operating system, customers get both the benefits of hardware reduction and a reduction in the number of operating system images they need to run to support their applications."
"As virtualization continues to proliferate in data centers and on desktops, Intel is delivering leading platform capabilities and performance to foster the growth," said Diane Bryant, Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Server Platforms Group. "Parallels Virtuozzo 4.0's manageability tools, ease-of-use and reliability take advantage of the performance improvements with Intel's latest generation of Quad Core Xeon and Itanium processors and make it a leading virtualization solution."
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 offers new features and functionality in several key areas:
- Business Continuity -- Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0
includes several new options to drive uptime, such as Windows
Server 2003 and Red Hat clustering services. In addition,
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 delivers a comprehensive
set of backup enhancements.
- Ease of Use and Manageability -- Version 4.0 extends the already
significant resource management in Parallels Virtuozzo Containers
with the inclusion of virtual CPU improvements, burstable CPU
limits, hardware device forwarding, hardware device sharing and
more.
- Efficiency -- Version 4.0's architectural enhancements provide
even higher levels of stability and performance. New
efficiency-driving features include real-time optimization of
hardware resources, and an improved Virtuozzo file system that
speeds common management tasks and more effectively utilizes hard
disk resources.
More information about how customers are using Parallels Virtuozzo can be found at www.parallels.com/virtuozzo.
Virtuozzo 4.0 also introduces the Parallels Infrastructure Manager, a powerful tool for managing the Virtualized Data Center that enables IT administrators to efficiently manage their infrastructure from anywhere.
The Parallels Infrastructure Manager includes a number of important features such as:
- Enhanced Permissions -- Includes role-based security and audit,
Microsoft Active Directory support and LDAP integration.
- Newly Designed Management Tool -- Easier assessment of resources
and assets via powerful dashboards.
- Large Scale Deployment and Management Capabilities -- Includes
application and OS templates as well as centralized data center
management, providing logical views of the data center.
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 is available worldwide from Parallels or any of its partners. The product, including the Parallels Infrastructure Manager, is available for $3,000 per dual CPU. A Parallels Virtuozzo Containers license can be purchased without the Parallels Infrastructure Manager for $2,500 per dual CPU.
About Parallels - Optimized Computing
Parallels (formerly SWsoft) is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses and service providers across all major hardware, operating system and virtualization platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with 900 employees in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.parallels.com.