Desktop virtualization maximizes
hardware investments

Take advantage of what you have so that
you can accomplish what you need

Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux helps enterprises and individuals worldwide use virtual PCs to move from a traditional physical IT infrastructure to a virtual one. Below, you’ll see a few of the ways that IT professionals, software developers, business managers, students, teachers and casual home users are using Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux to increase their productivity, maximize their hardware resources, and reduce the overall TCO of their IT infrastructure:

• Use Virtual PCs to lower hardware and operating costs.
  Since users can work with multiple operating systems simultaneously and seamlessly switch between virtual machines running them, there is no need to dedicate entire machines to specific operating systems. From one location, Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux users can load and use the ideal operating system to complete necessary tasks. With a reduced number of physical machines, enterprises can significantly lower hardware infrastructure expenses, dramatically shrink operating and cooling costs, and more efficiently use physical office space

• Improve IT efficiency.
  Testing new software, updates or patches in a virtual PCs prior to deployment to physical environments ensures that potentially hazardous bugs or conflicts can be identified and eliminated before they can do damage to servers or individual machines. IT managers can also test complex, multi-tier applications on a single machine rather than risk their physical network.

• Run mission-critical "legacy" applications on virtual machines alongside modern day-to-day applications.
  Instead of dedicating an older machine specifically to run an aging legacy program, users can create a virtual machine inside with the necessary hardware requirements and that runs the appropriate legacy OS, and run it alongside their primary OS on newer, faster hardware.

• Create portable virtual PC profiles that can be used anywhere.
  Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux virtual machine profiles can be easily zipped in a single file that can be instantly loaded on any Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux-enabled machine. Users working anywhere can work their "home" machine profile, regardless of their location, or their temporary workstation’s hardware configuration.

• Speed software development & strengthen QA testing.
  Users can create virtual development and testing environments on a single machine, enabling them to test software in a variety of real world conditions in real time without having to boot up multiple machines. This streamlines the QA process; testers are able to perform a more complete review in a smaller timeframe, resulting in a more mature, bug-free final product.

• Share complex, multi-tier demonstrations from a single laptop.
  By creating several virtual machines on a portable laptop, sales engineers and business development managers can demonstrate their software’s full capabilities across a real network of virtual PCs, rather than remaining tethered to a physical, off-site network of physical servers and workstations.

• Create student-friendly teaching environments.
  Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows & Linux enables instructors to create self-contained virtual PCs in which users can work with multiple operating systems and software sets simultaneously. Virtual machines can be programmed to automatically reset at shutdown, ensuring that students will have a clean, error-free environment to work with each time they come to class.