Parallels, the hosting and cloud services enablement leader, today officially announced its roster of highly-noted keynote speakers for Parallels Summit 2012, the leading global annual gathering of the cloud industry, scheduled from February 14-16, 2012, at the Gaylord Palms Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Parallels’ featured keynote speakers — including Guy Kawasaki, technology entrepreneur, best-selling author, and Apple’s first Chief Evangelist; Tiffani Bova, noted Gartner analyst and IT value chain and channel building expert; and Marsha Collier, online marketing, customer service and social media guru — are industry experts whose collective advice is highly sought-after for creating strategies to market IT services to small and medium businesses (SMBs).

Parallels leadership will also deliver keynote speeches – including Birger Steen, CEO, Serguei Beloussov, Executive Chairman of the Board & Chief Architect; and Jack Zubarev, President, Marketing and Alliances. These hosting industry leaders will share their insider knowledge on the seismic shift in SMB IT purchasing, and their vision for how to capitalize and profit from the new cloud landscape.

“I’m pleased to launch Parallels Summit 2012 with the opportunity to highlight our momentum, growing expertise and expanding leadership role in the cloud and hosting ecosystem,” said Birger Steen, CEO, Parallels. "It will also be my privilege to welcome to our stage three leading technology and small business experts — keynote speakers Guy Kawasaki, Tiffani Bova and Marsha Collier. Year after year, Parallels Summit is the most valuable opportunity for professionals from across the entire global cloud services ecosystem — including hosters, telcos, VARs, system integrators and ISVs — to acquire valuable insights and actionable strategies for Profiting from the Cloud.”

Parallels invites attendees to register and join the more than 1,500 industry influencers, leading technology analysts, media editors and reporters and online influentials from across the globe. From cloud service providers, hosting companies, communication service providers (CSPs) to value-added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs), Parallels Summit 2012 is an unrivaled opportunity to build relationships with the leading players in the cloud space, while gaining valuable strategies for selling, upselling, reselling, bundling and delivering a wide range of profitable cloud services to SMBs.

Conference attendees will also have access to go-to-market intelligence, action plans, profitability blueprints, plus technical and marketing training and product certification from Parallels and other industry experts. In addition, participants at Parallels Summit 2012 will receive a detailed overview of Parallels’ product roadmap in advance of public announcements.

• Guy Kawasaki, the foremost authority on technology adoption, was the original chief evangelist at Apple. In his second act, Kawasaki’s excelled at being a serial entrepreneur and networker, social media guru, best-selling author and featured columnist for American Express OPEN Forum for small business on his blog, Powering Small Business Success. In his keynote, Kawasaki will share insights from his life experiences on how to tap into the potential of customer “Enchantment” — the Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, as chronicled in his recent book of the same title. Regardless of your company’s size or how you deliver services, Kawasaki will explore why enchanting your customers is the key for service providers (or any entrepreneur) to build a business — it’s the path to differentiate yourself in the marketplace as you earn likability and trustworthiness.

• Tiffani Bova, Vice President, Gartner Research, is a 15-year technology veteran, covering IT sales and channel strategies at the noted research firm. Bova's area of specialization includes the development of comprehensive indirect channel programs, the impact of alternative models on the traditional channel and trends in IT distribution. She spends a significant amount of time with IT vendors at all levels that are looking to launch or enhance an existing channel program, while improving the leverage of their distribution partners and ultimately expand their global reach. Bova will provide insight for channel partners and the requirements they need and should expect from their vendor partners to be successful in today's market. She will also discuss the development of comprehensive indirect channel programs, go-to-market sales coverage models and the impact of alternative models on the traditional hosting and ISV channels in her keynote session, “The Role of Cloud Services Marketplaces in Your Value Chain Strategy.”

• Marsha Collier, recently named by Forbes as one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Women in Social Media,” will detail the online tactics for taking customer engagement to the next level in the keynote session, “Online Strategies for Improving your Marketing and Customer Service.” As the author of more than 35 books in the Wiley "For Dummies" series and host of Computer and Technology Radio, Collier will define the art of customer service, connection, and engagement. Collier also shares her on-target insights for better leveraging the Internet for marketing and customer service on her daily blog “Marsha’s Collier’s Musings.” All attendees at Parallels Summit 2012 will receive a copy of Collier’s latest book, “The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide”.

• Birger Steen, CEO, Parallels, will deliver a keynote entitled, “Capitalizing on the changing SMB IT landscape,” an examination of how the consumption of IT as cloud services by SMBs has become the default choice. In this session, Steen will share Parallels’ vision for the hosting and cloud industry, and also provide an update on Parallels strategy and a preview of next generation products. He will focus on how service providers can profitably continue to meet SMB customer needs as their IT spending evolves. Steen will also recognize the winners of the Parallels 2012 Partner Awards, honoring Parallels’ service provider partners across eight categories for their outstanding achievements with Parallels products, solutions and services.

• Serguei Beloussov, Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Architect, Parallels, will examine “Hosting and cloud in the year 2020.” Beloussov is a cloud expert, entrepreneur, and technical visionary who has spent the last 12 years developing software to enable cloud services. Beloussov’s keynote address will paint a picture of hosting, cloud and IT 10 years from now. Beloussov will share his vision and predictions for how today’s market trends will influence the hosting and cloud industry of the future.

• Jack Zubarev, President, Marketing & Alliances, Parallels, will present a keynote entitled, “Putting hosting and cloud services delivery all together.” Zubarev will connect the dots across the ecosystem, showing how the hosting and cloud services business model is transforming as the industry enters its next phase. He will also discuss how Parallels strategy and product roadmap will continue to deliver the highest profitability for service providers.

Attendees can also meet and interact with other leading players in the hosting industry, including key executives and technical staff from platinum and gold event sponsors Symantec, Microsoft, OpenSRS, Open-Xchange, Scality and eNom, among the over 50 event sponsors from across the entire hosting ecosystem.

A detailed agenda of planned sessions and activities is available at http://www.parallels.com/summit/2012/agenda/.
To register, and for information about training and certification sessions, please visit http://www.parallels.com/summit/2012/.