Parallels Small Business Panel Targets Cloud Service Providers

Parallels, best known for their virtualization platform offerings, has introduced Small Business Panel 10, a web-based all-in-one interface for cloud service providers that target small and midsize businesses. Parallels claim it’s a game-changer; decide for yourself after hearing the details.

Designed to help end users manage their IT infrastructure on their own, the Parallels Small Business Panel offers domain management, e-mail account creation and list management, a 5-step website builder (from design , collaboration and file-sharing), and, most interestingly, an application marketplace.

This new application marketplace lets users buy software licenses for things like shopping carts and desktop security from vendors like Symantec, Interspire, Pinnacle Cart, LinuxMagic, and KeepIt — and then install it directly to their dedicated server, all from within the panel. That same philosophy extends to open-source server applications like SpamAssassin, Tomcat, Apache ColdFusion and Microsoft SQL.

Small Business Panel is designed to be easier to use than Parallels Plesk Panel, but at the cost of some of the more advanced features: most notably for VARs and managed service providers, Small Business Panel does not allow its users to turn around and resell its services. The other difference to note is that Small Business Panel isn’t designed for shared or cloud hosting, but Plesk Panel is.

It sounds like Parallels is trying to do for server architecture what the App Store did for the iPhone. Has Parallels hit the mark? Let us know.

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