SWsoft
Encyclopedia
SWsoft was a privately held server automation and virtualization software company and the parent company of Parallels, Inc.
SWsoft developed software for running data centers, particularly for web-hosting services companies, application service providers, and managed service providers. SWsoft products included applications for operating system-level virtualization, which enables users to run multiple operating systems, including Windows
, Mac OS X
, Linux
, and Solaris, on a single computer.
The company was founded in 1997 and maintained its headquarters in Herndon, Virginia
with additional offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Its research and development offices were located in Moscow, Russia and it had sales offices in Germany
and Singapore
.
In December 2007, SWsoft announced its plans to change its name to Parallels
in 2008 and ship its products under the Parallels brand name.
and server management and to consolidate multiple servers onto one Windows- or Linux-based physical server. The company’s products are developed predominantly for web hosting companies, service providers, and corporations.
Although the company’s software reportedly uses fewer system resources because it does not require each virtualized server to have an independent operating system, its overall flexibility is limited. For example, each virtualized Virtuozzo server must have the same version of the same operating system, and when running Linux, the operating systems' kernel must be modified from the standard version.
Virtuozzo for Linux became available in 2001 while a version that supports 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows microprocessors became available in 2005. Linux architectures that support Virtuozzo for Linux are x86, ia64, AMD64, EM64T, and Itanium. Virtuozzo for Linux enables multiple Linux distributions to exist simultaneously on one server. It is based on OpenVZ
, a Linux-based OS-level virtualization technology, which allows a physical server to run multiple isolated operating system instances. In 2005, the company updated Virtuozzo to support 64-bit x86 processors. Virtuozzo requires at least a Pentium III server with at least 1 GB of memory and 4 GB available hard drive. Virtuozzo’s management tools will be compatible with Microsoft’s Viridian and Virtual Server software.
Virtuozzo competes with EMC's VMware
, Microsoft
's Virtual Server, and the open-source Xen
.
virtualizes servers on the host OS system. Virtualizating multiple server systems on a single physical server lowers overhead costs by reducing the amount of hardware and space to house it. Each instance running on a virtual OS must be isolated to maintain security, and host system resources must be managed carefully to maintain the required balance between the host and each of the virtualized server systems.
is a privately held company based near Seattle, Washington that develops desktop and server virtualization software. SWsoft’s acquisition of Parallels was more or less kept under wraps until January 2004, two years before Parallels became mainstream. Parallels software enables users to run multiple operating systems on a single PC
or Intel-powered Mac
computer by using a hypervisor
, which enables a guest operating system to directly access the host computer’s hardware. The company provides two primary products, Parallels Desktop for Mac and Parallels Workstation with a server software for the Mac, which is currently in the works.
At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2007 in San Francisco, California
, Parallels announced and demonstrated its upcoming Parallels Server for Mac. Parallels Server for Mac will reportedly allow IT managers to run multiple server operating systems on a single Mac Xserve. Parallels Server for Mac is now available.
is commercial web hosting data center
automation software developed for Linux- and Windows-based commercial hosting service providers. Plesk was designed to install and manage web hosting systems and applications on a single server. The control panel is designed to simplify the management and administration of the web sites by automating various tasks on a single server.
Parallels, Inc.
Parallels, Inc. is a privately held virtualization technology company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine. Parallels' US offices are in Renton, WA.The company has more than 700 employees as of 2010....
SWsoft developed software for running data centers, particularly for web-hosting services companies, application service providers, and managed service providers. SWsoft products included applications for operating system-level virtualization, which enables users to run multiple operating systems, including Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, and Solaris, on a single computer.
The company was founded in 1997 and maintained its headquarters in Herndon, Virginia
Herndon, Virginia
Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of the United States. The population was 21,655 at the 2000 census, which makes it the largest of three towns in the county.-History:...
with additional offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Its research and development offices were located in Moscow, Russia and it had sales offices in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
In December 2007, SWsoft announced its plans to change its name to Parallels
Parallels, Inc.
Parallels, Inc. is a privately held virtualization technology company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine. Parallels' US offices are in Renton, WA.The company has more than 700 employees as of 2010....
in 2008 and ship its products under the Parallels brand name.
Company history
- 1997 - SWsoft founded
- 2001
- Virtuozzo released
- HSPcomplete released
- 2003
- SWsoft acquires automation firms Yippi-Yeah! E-Business GmbH (makers of Confixx) and Plesk Inc (makers of PleskPleskThe Parallels Plesk Panel software package is a commercial web hosting automation program. Originally released under the U.S. company Plesk Inc. and designed in Novosibirsk, Russia, Plesk was acquired by SWSoft in July 2003...
) - PEM datacenter released
- Open Fusion launched
- SWsoft acquires automation firms Yippi-Yeah! E-Business GmbH (makers of Confixx) and Plesk Inc (makers of Plesk
- 2004
- Announces partnership with AcronisAcronisAcronis, Inc. is an international computer software company, dealing in the area of computer backup, disaster recovery, bare-metal restore, system deployment, and storage management in both Windows and Linux systems.-History:...
- PleskPleskThe Parallels Plesk Panel software package is a commercial web hosting automation program. Originally released under the U.S. company Plesk Inc. and designed in Novosibirsk, Russia, Plesk was acquired by SWSoft in July 2003...
7.0 released - SiteBuilder beta released
- Acquires Parallels, Inc.
- Announces partnership with Acronis
- 2007 - December 12: SWsoft announces that it will change its name to "Parallels" in 2008.
- 2007 - December: SWsoft acquires WebHostAutomation Ltd developers of HELM Control Panel.
- January 2008 - SWsoft officially becomes Parallels, Inc.
Uses
SWsoft’s virtualization software is predominantly used to automate data centerData center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
and server management and to consolidate multiple servers onto one Windows- or Linux-based physical server. The company’s products are developed predominantly for web hosting companies, service providers, and corporations.
Although the company’s software reportedly uses fewer system resources because it does not require each virtualized server to have an independent operating system, its overall flexibility is limited. For example, each virtualized Virtuozzo server must have the same version of the same operating system, and when running Linux, the operating systems' kernel must be modified from the standard version.
Open Fusion
Announced July 23, 2003, Open Fusion is an enterprise server consolidation program based on SWsoft's Virtuozzo virtualization and resource management software aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses.Virtuozzo
Virtuozzo is an operating system-level server virtualization solution designed to centralize server management and consolidate workloads, which reduces overhead by reducing the number of physical servers required. Organizations use Virtuozzo for server consolidation, disaster recovery, and server workload agility. Virtuozzo does not generate a virtual machine that resides on a host OS so that users can run multiple operating systems. Instead it creates isolated virtual private servers (VPSs) on a single physical server. For instance, the software can run multiple Linux VPSs, but not Linux and Windows at the same time on the same server. Each VPS performs exactly like a stand-alone server and can be rebooted independently..Virtuozzo for Linux became available in 2001 while a version that supports 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows microprocessors became available in 2005. Linux architectures that support Virtuozzo for Linux are x86, ia64, AMD64, EM64T, and Itanium. Virtuozzo for Linux enables multiple Linux distributions to exist simultaneously on one server. It is based on OpenVZ
OpenVZ
OpenVZ is an operating system-level virtualization technology based on the Linux kernel and operating system. OpenVZ allows a physical server to run multiple isolated operating system instances, known as containers, Virtual Private Servers , or Virtual Environments...
, a Linux-based OS-level virtualization technology, which allows a physical server to run multiple isolated operating system instances. In 2005, the company updated Virtuozzo to support 64-bit x86 processors. Virtuozzo requires at least a Pentium III server with at least 1 GB of memory and 4 GB available hard drive. Virtuozzo’s management tools will be compatible with Microsoft’s Viridian and Virtual Server software.
Virtuozzo competes with EMC's VMware
VMware
VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Virtual Server, and the open-source Xen
Xen
Xen is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently....
.
Operating system-level virtualization
OS-level virtualizationOperating system-level virtualization
Operating system-level virtualization is a server virtualization method where the kernel of an operating system allows for multiple isolated user-space instances, instead of just one. Such instances may look and feel like a real server, from the point of view of its owner...
virtualizes servers on the host OS system. Virtualizating multiple server systems on a single physical server lowers overhead costs by reducing the amount of hardware and space to house it. Each instance running on a virtual OS must be isolated to maintain security, and host system resources must be managed carefully to maintain the required balance between the host and each of the virtualized server systems.
Parallels, Inc.
Parallels, Inc.Parallels, Inc.
Parallels, Inc. is a privately held virtualization technology company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine. Parallels' US offices are in Renton, WA.The company has more than 700 employees as of 2010....
is a privately held company based near Seattle, Washington that develops desktop and server virtualization software. SWsoft’s acquisition of Parallels was more or less kept under wraps until January 2004, two years before Parallels became mainstream. Parallels software enables users to run multiple operating systems on a single PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
or Intel-powered Mac
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
computer by using a hypervisor
Hypervisor
In computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
, which enables a guest operating system to directly access the host computer’s hardware. The company provides two primary products, Parallels Desktop for Mac and Parallels Workstation with a server software for the Mac, which is currently in the works.
- Parallels Desktop for MacParallels Desktop for MacParallels Desktop for Mac by Parallels, Inc., is software providing hardware virtualization for Macintosh computers with Intel processors.-Overview:Parallels, Inc...
- Enables Mac users to run Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc. with their Mac OS X on any Intel-powered iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacPro Towers. Newest features include 3D support, SmartSelect, and Parallels Explorer (Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac). This software requires Mac OS X "Tiger" 10.4.6 or higher running on an Intel-powered Mac
- Parallels WorkstationParallels WorkstationParallels Workstation is the first commercial software product released by Parallels, Inc., a developer of desktop and server virtualization software...
- Enables users to create multiple, independent virtual machines on a PC. Consists of a virtual machine suite for Intel x86-compatible computers (running MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows or Linux), which allows the simultaneous creation and execution of multiple x86 computers. This software supports hardware virtualization technologies such as Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) and AMD SVMSVMSVM can refer to:* SVM * Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal* Scanning voltage microscopy* Schuylkill Valley Metro* Secure Virtual Machine, or AMD Virtualization , a virtualization technology by AMD* Solaris Volume Manager...
(Secure Virtual Machine).
At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2007 in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Parallels announced and demonstrated its upcoming Parallels Server for Mac. Parallels Server for Mac will reportedly allow IT managers to run multiple server operating systems on a single Mac Xserve. Parallels Server for Mac is now available.
Plesk
PleskPlesk
The Parallels Plesk Panel software package is a commercial web hosting automation program. Originally released under the U.S. company Plesk Inc. and designed in Novosibirsk, Russia, Plesk was acquired by SWSoft in July 2003...
is commercial web hosting data center
Data center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
automation software developed for Linux- and Windows-based commercial hosting service providers. Plesk was designed to install and manage web hosting systems and applications on a single server. The control panel is designed to simplify the management and administration of the web sites by automating various tasks on a single server.
HSPcomplete
HSPcomplete allows service providers to offer customers a range of services, from shared Web hosting for small and medium-sized businesses to cluster configurations for large enterprises.See also
- Parallels, Inc.Parallels, Inc.Parallels, Inc. is a privately held virtualization technology company with offices in the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, China, Russia and Ukraine. Parallels' US offices are in Renton, WA.The company has more than 700 employees as of 2010....
- Virtualization
- Server (computing)Server (computing)In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
- OpenVZOpenVZOpenVZ is an operating system-level virtualization technology based on the Linux kernel and operating system. OpenVZ allows a physical server to run multiple isolated operating system instances, known as containers, Virtual Private Servers , or Virtual Environments...
- Data centerData centerA data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
- Virtual machineVirtual machineA virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
- HypervisorHypervisorIn computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
- Operating system-level virtualizationOperating system-level virtualizationOperating system-level virtualization is a server virtualization method where the kernel of an operating system allows for multiple isolated user-space instances, instead of just one. Such instances may look and feel like a real server, from the point of view of its owner...