Major New Control Panel Version Now Shipping with More than 40 New Customer-Requested EnhancementsToday, SWsoft, an established leader in server automation and virtualization software, announced the general availability of its anticipated Plesk 8.0 for Linux/Unix control panel. Previewed to service providers earlier this month, Plesk 8.0 for Linux/Unix adds more than 40 new features and represents a major upgrade for hosting providers, resellers and end users.

Plesk 8.0 for Linux/Unix delivers an important new custom desktop capability to give administrators and end users significantly more control and convenience. The interface is designed to be task oriented and fully customizable to meet the needs of any hosting customer, from non-technical users to advanced technical users. Plesk Desktop allows all clients to have their own desktops with a customizable set of essential tasks and statistics. Any part of the desktop can be hidden or removed completely from the interface to make it cleaner and easier to use.

Additional feature highlights include customizable interface templates, domain aliases, improved Virtuozzo integration, an updated backup utility, integrated Acronis True Image module, enhanced system monitoring and a more efficient auto installer.

“Plesk 8.0 for Linux/UNIX is a significant milestone for our company with its new Plesk Desktop capabilities and other important enhancements,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO, SWsoft. “Plesk 8.0 raises the standard for hosting automation in delivering maximum usability, integration and availability. With the new Desktop feature, control panel users can for the first time quickly and easily create a personalized, task-oriented dashboard for functions they care about most.”

"We have been using Plesk since 2001 and are excited to offer our customers the Plesk Desktop feature for easier use and control," said Andrew Cranson, Transnexis (www.transnexis.com). "In our five years of using the Plesk control panel on VPS and Dedicated servers, we’ve found it to be very stable and secure. As the Plesk product has evolved, our reliance on and respect for SWsoft continues to increase, and I am fully confident that Plesk will continue its tradition of innovation and help our hosting business grow."

Key new features in Plesk 8.0 for Linux/Unix include:

• Plesk Desktop – Now administrators and clients have quick access to major management functions and they have immediate access to mission critical information and statistics. The task oriented design also allows administrators to create "favorites" and "shortcuts."

• Customizable Interface Templates – In this new release, administrators can customize templates that can be assigned to individual users. This dynamic new features makes the interface straight forward, easy to understand and intuitive.

• Improved Virtuozzo Integration – Now, Virtuozzo and Plesk are seamlessly integrated which allows hosting providers to manage more customers more efficiently. Virtuozzo lets you create isolated compartments, which allow you to handle customers in a more secure and reliable environment.

• Domain Aliases – This new feature lets domain administrators set up alternative domain names which act as nicknames for websites and email addresses.

• Watchdog 2 – A new version of the software’s system monitoring module which monitors diskspace, checks for security problems (Trojans), shows CPU/memory usage statistics and creates reports in case there are usage problems.

• New Backup Utility – Administrators can back up and restore client accounts and select which client's domains and information to backup/restore. Now domains can be completely restored with the properties they had during the backup. Administrators can restore from any version of Plesk which can be valuable for migration/upgrades.

• Acronis True Image Module – Plesk now comes with a new ATIS module. Using this module, administrators can create server disk backup images without interrupting server operations and perform easy and fast recovery of the entire system.

• Autoinstaller V3 – This improved feature lets administrators deploy and upgrade multiple servers in an efficient, cost effective manner. The new architecture allows for improved dependencies tracking and increased speed during installation/upgrade. All of this makes the support of new OSes simpler and easier.

For more information about Plesk 8.0 for Linux/Unix, please visit http://www.swsoft.com/en/products/plesk8/new/.

About SWsoft
SWsoft is a recognized leader in server automation and virtualization software. With more than 10,000 customers in over 100 countries, SWsoft's suite of products – transparently integrated and extended through the OPEN FUSION Initiative – delivers proven performance, reliability, manageability and value. With offices around the world; SWsoft is a high growth company, funded by Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners and Intel Capital, offering comprehensive solutions including: Virtuozzo, Plesk, SiteBuilder, HSPcomplete and PEM. For more information about SWsoft, visit www.swsoft.com.