Quoting from the Parallels official announcement:
Parallels Inc. today announced the general availability of version 2.1 of its desktop virtualization software, Parallels Workstation. The upgraded version delivers faster performance, better stability, and stronger isolation of virtual machines.
Additional improvements and new features in the popular, easy-to-use, cost-effective virtualization software include:
- A completely re-designed interface
- Better hardware support, including USB and wireless networking support, and support for PAE-enabled machines
- Better functionality, including the ability to suspend and resume VM (virtual machine) activity, a new “compact hard disk” feature that helps users manage available hard disk resources, and a more robust tools package that lets users personalize their experience
- Primary and guest support for SUSE Linux 10
- Guest OS support for Sun Solaris
- Improved performance for guest OS/2 virtual machines
…
Additionally, Parallels announced that future versions of Parallels virtualization products will offer full support for Intel’s next generation of hardware virtualization technology, Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d), which extends virtualization support into the platform by making it possible to robustly assign IO devices to virtual machines (VMs) in a virtualized system.
“Intel is delivering relevant innovations for virtualization solution providers including Intel Virtualization Technology for CPU (VTx) and Directed IO (VTd), Dual Core microprocessors and Intel(R) Core(R) Microarchitecture,” said David Tuhy, General Manager of Intel’s Desktop Products Division. “Parallels has taken full advantage of VTx in Parallels Workstation 2.1, and we look forward to continued collaboration with Parallels on enabling new platform capabilities such as VTd which will help improve the reliability, performance and flexibility of I/O devices on virtual machines.”
…
New users can purchase licenses at the industry-leading low price of $49.99 directly through the company’s online store at http://www.parallels.com/buyonline. New users are also welcome to download and evaluate a free, fully functional trial by visiting the Parallels Download Center at http://www.parallels.com/download.