Shared web hosting allows small and medium sized businesses to build and manage a website without a detailed knowledge of servers, email, or databases.

Parallels offers providers the necessary tools to automate all of the processes associated with offering shared hosting services. ISVs can package web applications using APS (Application Packaging Standard) allowing service providers to directly offer end users the applications without the need for development or integration.

Parallels Solution

Parallels automates the delivery of shared web hosting services from ordering to billing to renewals. Our solutions bundle all components of a web hosting package into a single, easy to use control panel:

• Website settings
• Databases
• DNS
• Domain registration
• Email
• FTP and file managers
• Applications

Shared web hosting plans have several hundred applications and features to manage and customize. Parallels solutions help providers create service packages which can be provisioned without any manual involvement. The user-friendly control panel allows end users to manage hundreds of tasks (adding an application, changing an email password, etc.) which would otherwise burden a provider's support team.

Other manual tasks such as ordering, billing, payments, collections, and account upgrades can be automated through a pre-integrated Parallels billing solution.

Bright Ideas

Service providers can "virtualize" their shared hosting infrastructure to provide better management and higher reliability for their users. For example, instead of maintaining 100 customers on a single server, separate them into groups of 20 users on 5 virtual servers. By using this type of implementation, 80% of the user base is unaffected even if one customer corrupts a server since they are in an isolated virtual environment. Also, by using virtualization technology, growing customer bases can be handled easily by migrating clients off a crowded server.