The company now offers support for Microsoft Office 365 and Hyper-V Cloud, among other services.
Hosting and cloud services specialist Parallels announced the introduction
of cloud infrastructure and hosted PBX platforms, as well as support for
Microsoft Office 365 Syndication and Hyper-V Cloud.
Parallels is also increasing its investment in facilitating APS (application
packaging standard)-enabled solutions to help ISVs profit from the cloud.
Parallels Automation for Cloud Infrastructure can be managed through an
integrated management panel, enabling IT professionals to self-create,
self-scale and self-manage virtual data centers. The infrastructure supports
service delivery components like provisioning, billing and self-service
management.
Service providers can deploy Microsoft's System Center Hyper-V Cloud virtualization
with Parallels Automation. This enables them to manage Hyper-V virtual
machines, offer self-service control panels and implement a multitier reseller
channel using Microsoft System Center and Parallels Automation. Parallels also
expanded the suite of Microsoft products available to service providers with
the addition of Hyper-V support. Other solutions available include Microsoft
Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications Server, Dynamics CRM
and Microsoft Online Services syndication.
"Cloud infrastructure services are powered by a number of different
technologies, and hosting customers buy various types of hosted applications
built by different technology vendors. The challenge for hosters is to support
and automate the delivery of as many of these technologies as possible,"
said Philbert Shih, senior analyst for hosting at Tier1 Research. "This is
crucial because accommodating different technologies helps hosters maximize
their market opportunity while delivering choice and flexibility to customers."
To accelerate the delivery of new APS-enabled solutions, Parallels has
developed a program to provide a network of system integrators that can help
service providers to APS package their offerings. System integrators include
ActiveCloud, Komtet, Softec and iSynergy.
New additions to the APS catalog include Kaltura, used to launch cloud-based
media services and deliver cloud-based applications that integrate video, rich
media and UGC/social networking and extend cloud-based experiences to virtually
any device, across managed or unmanaged networks; and Smarsh, which provides
hosted solutions for archiving electronic communications, including e-mail,
instant messaging, mobile messaging and social media platforms such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
According to Parallels' "SMB Cloud Insights" report released last
year, small to medium-size business (SMB) cloud consumption has hit the mass
adoption curve with the cloud services market valued at $10.6 billion in 2010.
This market opportunity will increase to $28.6 billion, and small businesses
with fewer than 100 employees are the foundation of this market. They account
for over 80 percent of the total market spending and over 95 percent of all
U.S. SMBs, according to report.
"SMBs' cloud consumption has hit the wide adoption curve and [is] driving
a sea change in the cloud industry," said Birger Steen, CEO
of Parallels. "They are demanding a trusted, full-service provider to
deliver the integrated and complete portfolio of IT services they need. Today,
there aren't many that can provide the full service offering or keep up with
the increasing expectations from their customers. Partnering is the only way service
providers will meet the growing needs of SMB and stay competitive."
Steen said service providers need to adjust to remain competitive in the
industry as SMBs are asking their traditional IT providers for cloud services,
driving new, well-funded entrants into the market. "The service provider
must offer a full set of integrated services to grow profit and reduce churn,"
he said. "With the right partners, they can do that and can continue to
drive efficiency, accelerating growth through reinvestment."
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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