Parallels - the software artist formerly known as SWsoft - has snatched up billing dandy ModernGigabyte in a bid to strengthen the company's products that cater to hosting providers.

Parallels gains ModernGigabyte's equally modern ModernBill software that automates a number of the billing jobs associated with the hosting industry. So, we're talking about software that handles customer sign-ups, account creation, payment processing and web-based account control. ModernGigabyte aims the software at ISPs for things like hosting and Wi-Fi service management.

Virtuozzo Containers, Parallels' flagship server virtualization product, has long been the product of choice among hosting providers. The containers model embraced by Parallels allows companies to create tens and even hundreds of virtual systems off a single copy of an operating system. This strategy lets the users pack lots of virtual machines on a single box and saves on software costs since you're making the most out of an OS.

The agreement between Parallels and ModernGigabyte will be announced tomorrow, although we learned about it early thanks to a vigilant reader who passed along a ModernGigabyte customer notification.

"We would like to assure you that Parallels has no intention of discontinuing ModernBill or eliminating support for any of the popular control panels that it supports today," ModernGigabyte told its users. "The latest version of ModernBill is the ideal complement to the Parallels family of control panels including Plesk, Virtuozzo, Parallels Pro and Helm. Development will continue to be performed by our development team and support processes will remain in place to ensure no interruption to your existing business."

According to the notice, ModernBill will be built into Parallels' Plesk management console that's also targeted at hosting companies. As we understand it, ModernBill will turn into Parallels Plesk Billing.

You're not meant to look at this web site (http://www.parallels.com/modernbill) which confirms the deal until tomorrow. So, please behave.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and the deal between the two private firms was actually approved by both companies in Jan. ®

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