Parallels Announces Parallels Virtuozzo Containers Support for HP

By VSM News Staff
published: Monday, November 17 2008

Containers support HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 and HP ProLiant BL495c Virtualization Blade Server

RENTON, Wash., November 17, 2008 - Parallels today announced that its OS-level server virtualization solution, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, supports the new HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet module and HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers enables HP BladeSystem customers to partition the underlying hardware and host OS so multiple, isolated workloads can run simultaneously and safely on the same physical server. Combined with HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 and HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization server blades, this approach provides a unique virtualized environment for customers running Linux or Microsoft Windows with further benefits of green computing through very high hardware and software virtualization density.

"HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 provides customers with new levels of flexibility and control with its ability to consolidate, allocate and fine tune NIC connection bandwidth" said Ezequiel Steiner, Senior VP of Corporate and Business Development at Parallels. "Coupled with the unmatched density of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, this results in one of the greenest computing environments available."

When customers combine Parallels Virtuozzo Containers with the HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet module and HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade servers, they can deploy more virtual servers per blade than ever before, while still ensuring that the appropriate network resources are available to the host operating system or each individual container. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers takes advantage of these new capabilities immediately as it leverages the native Linux and Microsoft Windows drivers provided by HP. Parallels' unique, container-based virtualization approach virtualizes the OS instead of the underlying hardware, resulting in high utilization rates per server.

"Customers want a cost-efficient and high-performance technology environment, in conjunction with attaining their green computing goals," said Mark Potter, vice president and general manager, BladeSystem, HP. "The combination of HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 with the HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers allows HP BladeSystem customers to deploy extremely dense server hardware and OS virtualization software."

Power consumption within datacenters has become a major concern due to the impact on both the environment and rising energy prices. Using Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, datacenter owners have reduced power consumption by 60-80%. Compared to other virtualization technologies, Parallels Container-based architecture enables high density deployments and makes it the "greenest" virtualization solution. With such consolidation ratios customers can minimizes power consumption up to 10 times more than other virtualization technologies, as numerous case studies from our customers have shown. One such customer is Media Temple.

"Since 2007, we've slashed power consumption per (dv) customer by 71 percent using HP hardware and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers," says Demian Sellfors, CEO of (mt) Media Temple. "Reducing power usage is crucial to Media Temple overall conservation program, and the combination HP and Parallels allows us to reach our conservation goals within our datacenters."

The Parallels Virtuozzo Containers green computing benefit is strengthened by the HP BladeSystem c-Class platform, as the most efficient HP blade configuration consumes 45 percent less power than traditional 1U servers. This translates to running 80 blades for the same power as 42 standard 1U servers in an extremely dense containers-based virtualized environment.

About Parallels - Optimized Computing

Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses, and service providers across all major hardware, operating systems, 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.