Blacknight, a Parallels Gold Partner, is offering four VPS service plans for the Linux and Windows platforms. Each level – Starter, Basic, Standard and Enterprise – is managed through Parallels System Automation and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers.

Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels noted, ”We are pleased that Blacknight chose Parallels solutions to power its new VPS offerings and bring the benefits of virtualization to its customers in Ireland. Parallels software gives Blacknight the flexibility and control to meet the needs of their customers, both large and small, and provides an open platform that will allow Blacknight to add new services and take advantages of emerging opportunities like software as a service.”

The new Blacknight VPS offerings are provisioned and managed through Parallels Virtuozzo Containers operating system (OS) virtualization software and Parallels Automation datacenter solution. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers enables Blacknight to simultaneously run multiple execution environments called ‘containers’ on a single physical server and a single OS. Administrators can install any application, server software or OS component. Parallels Automation allows Blacknight to more efficiently manage the VPS infrastructure and scale to add new services such as shared hosting, SaaS, and Hosted Exchange.

Michele Neylon, Blacknight Solutions remarked, ”By partnering with Parallels, Blacknight is able to bring innovative virtualization technologies to the Irish market. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers and Parallels Automation are ‘best-of-breed’ solutions that will give our customers the control and flexibility of a dedicated server at a fraction of the price.”

Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd is a 100 percent Irish-owned company specializing in serving the hosting and colocation needs of businesses, both large and small. Its servers are based in Ireland’s leading datacenters: The Data Electronics Group in Clondalkin, Dublin and Interxion, also in Dublin. By partnering with innovative companies, like Parallels and Comodo, Blacknight brings best-of-breed technologies to the Irish market, while maintaining an aggressive pricing model. Blacknight Solutions are members of the IIA, ISPAI, RIPE, INEX and Nominet.

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 about Blackknight, please visit: www.blacknightvps.com.

To learn more about Parallels, please visit: www.parallels.com.

Slated to discuss the future of hosted services, Mr. Beloussov will deliver the address at the tradeshow and conference, scheduled to take place from July 28-30, 2008, at the historic Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois.

George A. Roberts IV, Executive Director of HostingCon 2008 noted, ”HostingCon 2008 will be a great place to learn how to optimize your hosted services business through automation, virtualization and standardization. It will also be a great time to meet with your peers and find out how they’re implementing these technologies in their business.”

In addition to the keynote address by Serguei Beloussov, HostingCon 2008’s conference program will contain a number of sessions discussing cloud computing and its impact on hosted services providers. Attendees will be able to learn how to help their customers feel comfortable with cloud services, how software as a service and open source software work together and how to employ virtualization in your infrastructure.

The hosting market has matured and continues to grow and present new opportunities such as the adoption of Software as a Service. Parallels is partnering with hosting providers and ISVs to facilitate an ecosystem which will better serve customers and increase service provider revenues. Serguei Beloussov will discuss the need to automate, virtualize, and standardize in order to deliver optimized computing for hosted services providers that is critical for enabling service providers to profit from and adapt to changes in the hosting market.

HostingCon is the definitive conference and tradeshow for the hosted services industry. HostingCon 2008 will be held July 28-30, 2008 at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted services professionals around the world gather to learn more about the industry, network with their peers and vendors, and help grow their business. HostingCon is produced by Interjuncture Corp., a Crystal Lake, Illinois-based producer of technology-related tradeshows, conferences and events.

The HostingCon 2008 website is located at http://www.hostingcon.com/ and is the best source for the most up to date information on the conference program, exhibitors, and special events.
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 about HostingCon 2008, please visit: www.hostingcon.com/2008.

To learn more about Parallels, please visit: www.parallels.com.

William Platnick, Director of Managed Services, ActiveHost noted, ”We see our VPS offering as a hybrid service between shared and dedicated hosting, providing better security, isolation and management capabilities than traditional hosting solutions at a more attractive price. It is a great offering for small and mid-sized businesses that want control of their server, but can’t afford a dedicated server package.”

The new offering will be delivered by the newly created ActiveVPS division of ActiveHost. ActiveHost is using Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, Parallels Plesk Control Panel and Parallels Business Automation software to provide its customers with a complete platform to manage their own VPS resources and billing account information. ActiveVPS managed hosting plans are available with pre-configured software solutions including the Parallels Plesk Control Panel for server management, SmarterTools software for business productivity, and Acronis TrueImage for server backup.

Due to rising energy costs, ActiveHost has seen increasing demand by large enterprises for economical servers to use in development and test environments. Many businesses are bearing the strain by decreasing technical staff and capacity in their corporate datacenters. As a result, ActiveVPS expects more businesses will turn to service providers for the speed, safety and security of hosted VPS services.

Kurt Daniel, Senior Vice President of marketing and online, Parallels remarked, ”ActiveHost provides service and support that exceed customer expectations and we are pleased they chose Parallels products to launch their new ActiveVPS services. Parallels Open Platform and industry-leading virtualization and automation technology deliver unbeatable performance and ensure lower management costs and higher overall return on investment.”

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is the world’s leading operating system (OS) virtualization solution. On a single physical server and single OS installation, it enables users to run workloads in multiple, simultaneously running execution environments called ”containers.” Compared to other virtualization technologies, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers offers the highest levels of density, performance and manageability.

The Parallels Open Platform enables hosting with Parallels virtualization and automation technology that can be integrated with a wide range of third-party applications and systems. The Application Packaging Standard (APS), a key element of the platform, is used by ISVs and service providers to integrate applications, which can be offered to the more than 10 million businesses and individuals that use Parallels products.

ActiveHost was established in 1996 as one of the first companies to focus on Microsoft Windows-based web hosting. ActiveHost’s customer base quickly grew to several thousand shared hosting customers. Over its 12 year history, ActiveHost has grown its service lines to include co-location, dedicated servers, domain registration, e-commerce, and web marketing services. ActiveHost owns and operates its own internal network and systems from a datacenter in Albany, N.Y., which is located on the Internet backbone, to ensure high performance levels.

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 about ActiveHost, please visit www.activehost.com.

To learn more about Parallels, please visit: www.parallels.com.

For a minimal monthly charge, clients can enjoy the benefits of the same virtualization technology used in Cirrus’ Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plans in a standalone dedicated server. Although a VPS has dedicated resources and is isolated within the server, it still exists in a physical server that hosts other VPS instances. A dedicated server with virtualization utilizes all the resources available in the dedicated server with a layer of virtualization for added benefits.

The major advantage of a dedicated server with virtualization technology that cannot be realized on a dedicated server without it is fast scaling time. By saving your server instance in an image file that can be uploaded to another server with more resources, upgrading time is significantly reduced. Virtualization eliminates the need to manually recreate an instance of a server, which can be a time consuming process. This is especially useful for clients on a VPS hosting plan that wants to upgrade to a dedicated server.

For example, say a website that is hosted on a VPS is experiencing a huge spike in traffic and requires the resources of a dedicated server ASAP. By upgrading to a dedicated server with virtualization technology, it’s a matter of uploading the saved VPS instance onto the new dedicated server and some minimal configuration. By offering virtualization technology in its dedicated server hosting plans, Cirrus Tech hopes to help VPS clients make the transition to a dedicated server quickly and with minimal hassle.

Cirrus Tech uses industry leading virtualization software, Virtuozzo by Parallels, for its VPS and dedicated server with virtualization technology hosting solutions.

Cirrus Tech Ltd. is one of Canada’s largest web hosting companies and is a leading provider of comprehensive Internet services. Cirrus provides locally based sales and engineering support for its Internet services in Toronto, Canada, and offers web hosting services to customers in many countries.

To learn more, please visit: www.cirrushosting.com.