A few virtualization.info readers may remember that Parallels (formerly SWsoft) has its roots in open source.
Its OS virtualization platform Containers (formerly Virtuozzo) in fact has an open source counterpart called OpenVZ (formerly Open Virtuozzo), which is continuously developed since 2005 thanks to the Parallels sponsorship and support.
OpenVZ requires a tight integration with the Linux to work, so Parallels happens to be one of the top 10 kernel contributor in the world (#9 actually, just behind well-know leaders like Red Hat, IBM, Novell, Intel and Oracle).
Yesterday the company further increased its involvement with the open source community by joining The Linux Foundation.
The company hopes to integrate Parallels Containers in the kernel, pretty much like it happened to KVM. If succeeding, its OS virtualization platform may be in the same kind of strategic position of Hyper-V inside Windows for Microsoft customers.
The out-of-the-box availability of OpenVZ/Parallels Containers in every Linux distribution would translate into a remarkable opportunity to extend the market share beyond the hosting industry and in an opportunity to increase the reputation among Linux shops.
OpenVZ has been ported to kernel 2.6.32 just two weeks ago. This kernel will be used in future key distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6, Ubuntu 10.4 and Debian 6.