Parallels recently launched a new version of its popular Parallels server virtualization software for Apple hardware, but this latest update is designed to work with Mac Mini servers. With this release, Parallels still claims the title of having the only server virtualization solution optimized for Apple server hardware.

Parallels Server for Mac 4.0 Mac Mini Edition is a Type-2 hypervisor, meaning it installs directly onto existing Mac hardware and its host operating system -- in this case, OS X Server. And like Parallels' other popular Mac virtualization product lines, this latest release keeps with the claim to fame of allowing for the installation and operation of Microsoft Windows and Linux server operating systems on top of Apple's hardware.

These guest OSes can run concurrently with Mac OS X, providing users with additional flexibility and performance, and expanding the software library made available to small businesses by being able to consolidate and run Windows applications like Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL Server or Linux applications like Moodle, WordPress, and MySQL on their Apple hardware.

Kim Johnston, vice president of marketing at Parallels said, "Businesses can reduce their need for different hardware platforms, saving space, power and administration time, while easily adding new services without the need to increase the budget for additional hardware purchases."

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Read the rest of this InfoWorld Virtualization Report article.