Friday's Last Word: Parallels CEO Birger Steen
Parallels CEO Birger Steen sat down with Talkin' Cloud to help us understand who he is away from the office. Here are the details.
![Friday's Last Word: Parallels CEO Birger Steen Friday's Last Word: Parallels CEO Birger Steen](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltbd4f6b1587d88893/65247930bbb338ed1fcc7f61/steen_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
To find out who Birger Steen is outside of the office, click through this slideshow.
STEEN: Buddy Guy.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Nothing but rhythm and blues.
STEEN: “A Most Wanted Man” — kind of a slow roller, but Philip Seymour Hoffman keeps you glued to the screen.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Another remarkable actor lost to drug addiction.
STEEN: A Tesla for my father on his 75th birthday.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: My birthday is in February. I’ll send a reminder over then.
STEEN: A Homeland, for Clare Danes’ acting and the lack of predictable stereotypes.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Maybe I’m the only one who finds this television series unrealistic.
STEEN: “How Music Works” by David Byrne; “Off the Road” by Carolyn Cassady; and “Masterminds and Wingmen” by Rosalind Wiseman. (I always parallel read)
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Anybody else notice what he did there?
STEEN: A Garmin Swim watch for myself. My son appropriated it immediately.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Like father, like son.
STEEN: Wellpepper, which lets my physiotherapist assign me “homework” in the form of great video, not stick figure drawings, and allows me to give feedback on it and record progress.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: The word “homework” brings back bad memories.
STEEN: Ruby, My Dear — a Kir Royal substitute at Zoe in Seattle.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Fresh Lemon and Grapefruit Juice. Served Up With A Half Salt Rim.
STEEN: Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan. Classic iTunes serendipity — I synced a few thousand more songs from stuff I have on the server at home to my new phone, then I Bluetooth connected to a car I borrowed in Norway. The combination randomly selected this beautiful music poem as I was on my way to dinner with two childhood friends, and I ended up replaying it the whole way.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: Everything Dylan puts out is worth a listen — although I’m not too sure about that Christmas album of his.
STEEN: Napa Valley with my wife.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: This reporter will get there someday.
STEEN: Napa Valley with my wife.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’S SPIN: This reporter will get there someday.
Friday's Last Word: Parallels CEO Birger Steen — Who exactly is he?
Parallels CEO Birger Steen has been leading the virtualization and automation software company's efforts since 2010.
Before Parallels, Steen was with Microsoft for more than eight years, working in various roles. Prior to Microsoft, he led Scandinavia Online as CEO for a couple of years. He was also employed by Schibsted Media Group and McKinsey. Steen started his career with Norwegian Oil Trading.
What are Steen's plans for Parallels?
"To serve service providers better than ever and anyone," he says. "We’ve been at this game since 2000, first as SWsoft and then as Parallels."
"In 2015 all the pieces will be coming together for hosters who are ready to up their game," Steen says. "Differentiated, value-added services will continue to drive growth and higher ARPUs, great container technology will become available for everyone and end customer demand will really take off in the SMB and developer markets — it’ll be a blast."
Who does Steen challenge to sit in the hot seat?
Taylor Rhodes, president and CEO at Rackspace, a San Antonio, Texas-based managed cloud hosting company.
What is "Friday's Last Word"?
Friday's Last Word welcomes cloud-centric CEOs who are willing to speak with Talkin' Cloud without someone peeking over a shoulder. Click on each photo to learn more about the CEO you're viewing — it's that simple.
Think you can handle sitting in the hot seat? Send an email to Talkin' Cloud Senior Editor CJ Arlotta at cj.arlotta [at] penton.com for further information. If he doesn't get back to you right away, bother him some more — and more.
Follow CJ Arlotta on Twitter @cjarlotta and Google+ for further updates on the story above — or if you just want to say hello.
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