Expanded Partner Program includes new Member level and all-new Parallels PartnerNet portal

Parallels has introduced a new version of the Service Provider Partner Program designed to provide you with:

More expertise for targeting SMB opportunities
Guidance and best practices for upselling and reselling more services
More timely access to product news
Tools to use in your go-to-market efforts

Among the new features available through the all-new PartnerNet Portal are:

Best practices and guidance — Market and customer needs, product strategy, technical operations, pricing, packaging. Webinars, worksheets, and whitepapers are also available.
Go-to-market tools — Email templates, demos and more
SMB Knowledge Headquarters
Direct product downloads — no form to fill out
An expanded self-editable profile which populates a new Partner Locator (Bronze and above)

The Partner Program now includes a new free Member level designed for web hosters, website designers and other service providers who use Parallels solutions and want to develop a relationship with Parallels and gain access to PartnerNet resources but do not need the additional benefits of Bronze and higher levels. Additionally, the Bronze program is now expanded worldwide and includes availability in Europe and North Africa.

You can get more details on the new program elements here.
Non-partners can apply for Bronze or higher levels here.
Non-partners can apply for the Member level here.
Existing partners who have not already registered for access to the new PartnerNet can do so here.

In this Newsletter:

Events:

Parallels Summit 2012 Japan — June 5 at Aoyama Diamond Hall, Tokyo
Register now and get a free ticket to the networking dinner
APS & Parallels Cloud Services Webinar — June 12 at 8:00 AM (PDT) / 5:00 PM (CEST)
Learn about four new services enabled by APS: Apptix-as-a-service, Cakemail, Certivox, MobeeArt
SMB Cloud Insights Webinar Series: Capturing the Opportunity in Emerging Markets — June 26 at 7:00 AM (PDT) / 4:00 PM (CEST)
Learn how you can easily adapt your marketing to sell internationally in emerging markets, the fastest growing space in the SMB cloud market
Parallels Summit 2012 APAC — September 21-22 at Shangri-la's Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore
Register now to learn practical ways to sell, upsell, resell, bundle and deliver the widest range of cloud services

Latest News

Get started with the new and improved Parallels Web Presence Builder, available with Parallels Plesk Panel 11

An updated version of Parallels Web Presence Builder will ship in June at the same time as Parallels Plesk Panel 11. Parallels Web Presence Builder is fully integrated with Parallels Plesk Panel and extends Parallels Plesk Panel capabilities for website owners and web hosters. New benefits include more website design options, optimization for viewing websites on mobile phones, a website dashboard for viewing site traffic and analytics, and now over 100 small business templates.

Watch "Getting Started with Parallels Web Presence Builder 11" to see a complete walkthrough of the new version. To get started with Parallels Web Presence Builder today, download the Parallels Plesk Panel 11 preview code here.

Get ready for Parallels Business Automation Standard 4.2 coming in June

Parallels Business Automation Standard (PBAS) is one of the most proven billing and hosting automation solutions on the market among small and medium web hosting businesses…and is about to get even better.

We know hosters now need to rely more on referral programs to attract new customers. A natural tracking challenge exists for referral programs, though, and so they need to be automated and integrated with the hosting billing and automation solution.

Introducing the solution: the new PBAS Affiliate Program Module. This along with many other new features will be released in PBAS 4.2 in June.

If you would like to learn more about PBAS and its revenue share program, please complete and submit this form.

If you are an existing PBAS user, you can prepare yourself for the PBAS 4.2 upgrade by:

Upgrading OS on PBAS Container to CentOS 5.x or RHEL 5.x
Upgrading your PBAS installation to version 4.1.6
Making sure your current PBAS license includes active Software Update Service

You can also signup for the "PBAS 4.2 Best Practices" webinar in June:

Share your VPS Best Practices and you could win an iPad

Coming in June on PartnerNet, we will launch our new VPS Best Practices Forum. Every month we will publish a best practice for your VPS business, and we invite all of our partners to contribute examples of the best practice in action using Parallels virtualization products. We will choose a winner every month to win a new iPad, and even if you don't win the iPad that month, your business will win by putting VPS best practices to use.

Start by reviewing the latest VPS best practices documents here, and then go to the discussion forums in PartnerNet to learn about this month's best practice, read about how other partners are succeeding and contribute your own use case example.

Parallels Automation 5.4 takes service delivery to the next level

Parallels Automation 5.4 is now available and includes several significant features that dramatically enhance the capabilities of the platform:

Module for BroadSoft BroadWorks for full-featured hosted PBX offering
Support for Hosted Microsoft Lync for rich presence functionality in scenarios that incorporate unified communication and collaboration for Microsoft Office/Exchange
Support for Hosted Exchange 2010 SP2 using Parallels' new Windows Provisioning Engine, allowing for a smooth migration from Microsoft's Hosted Messaging and Collaboration platform
A completely refactored user interface for the end customer, which seamlessly integrates Parallels Operations Automation for service management and Parallels Business Automation for billing. The significance is higher customer satisfaction, more self-service scenarios, and smoother up/cross-sell opportunities.

To access Parallels Automation resources, including videos, datasheets and more, go here.

Parallels and Apptix power cloud-based solutions for Cincinnati Bell

Cincinnati Bell has expanded its portfolio of telecommunications and IT services for businesses with the addition of cloud-based Microsoft® Communication and Collaboration Solutions powered by Apptix® and Parallels. These new solutions will allow Cincinnati Bell to more effectively serve small & medium businesses, as well as key industries including healthcare, government, and education.

For more details, please read this blog article.

Parallels named a "Cool Vendor" in Cloud Services by Industry Research Firm Gartner

Parallels has earned yet another industry accolade in cloud services, as technology research firm Gartner has named the company as a "Cool Vendor in Cloud Services Brokerage" enablement in a recent report, which analyzes and recognizes those firms with new and innovative technologies for delivering cloud brokerage services.

Gartner cited the Parallels Automation solution, including Parallels Automation for Cloud Marketplace (PACM), as major components of the value Parallels brings - software, ecosystem and expertise — to help service providers profit from the cloud by meeting the growing demand for SMB cloud services.

The full Gartner report is available courtesy of Parallels here.

Case Study

ZNetLive, leading Indian web hosting company, reins in business costs and enhances revenues with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers.

News from Support

Tips and Tricks from Parallels Global Support

Parallels Virtual Automation

To learn more about Parallels Virtual Automation backup and restore processes, server roles in the backup and restore processes, and commonly used terms within Parallels Virtual Automation please see the following Knowledge Base article.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Windows

Two major Windows updates have been released. To learn how to check if the Microsoft Updates are supported by Parallels Virtuozzo Containers please see the following Knowledge Base article.

Connect With Parallels Global Support!

For general Customer Support and Service, and updates from the Global Support organization you can tweet to @ParallelsCares on Twitter! @ParallelsCares.
Follow Parallels Knowledge Base on Twitter and you will see when new* Knowledge Base articles go live as soon as they are created or updated! @ParallelsKB.

*@ParallelsKB will tweet new and updated KB articles for the following products only: Parallels Desktop for Mac, Parallels Plesk Panel, Parallels Virtual Automation, Parallels Virtual Automation, Parallels Operations Automation, Parallels Business Automation — Enterprise, Parallels Business Automation — Standard.