John Zanni was general manager of Microsoft’s worldwide Software + Services division before joining Parallels as vice president of alliances.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Known as a fixture in the hosting industry, John Zanni, who has led the Microsoft’s (www.microsoft.com) hosted Software + Services business initiatives, has now joined virtualization and automation software developer Parallels (www.parallels.com) as vice president of alliances.
According to Parallels, Zanni began work at the company on Tuesday, where he is now responsible for managing technology alliances between Parallels and its partners.
This sort of responsibility is not entirely new for Zanni, who, as Microsoft’s worldwide communications sector general manager of Software + Services, worked closely with all types of service providers including Web hosts, hosted Internet service providers and telcos to ensure they had the tools and resources needed for their businesses.
Prior to his GM role, Zanni was responsible for helping drive Microsoft’s partner-hosted initiative to provide the software + services based next-generation platform, business applications and a compelling digital lifestyle experience for end-users through its extensive partner ecosystem.
Earlier in his career, Zanni helped design and create the object model for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, and then went on to create and manage the Microsoft Office website (office.microsoft.com), which has become one of the top websites worldwide.
Prior to Microsoft, he spent 12 years running Rendezvous Restaurant, a family-owned and operated French restaurant in Southen California.
Zanni holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematical physics from California State University Northridge.
Recently, WHIR editor in chief Liam Eagle talked with Zanni in a video interview in which he touches on topics important to the hosting industry such as the opportunity to deliver hosted services to small and medium-sized businesses, the move toward IT service being delivered from the cloud, and how hosts should be seen as a “trusted advisor,” to their customers rather than simply a hosting provider.
The message that partnership is necessary for service providers was a key part of his keynote at this year’s Microsoft Hosting Summit, in which he laid out his vision that online service providers will play a huge role in the growth of SMBs and that this presents opportunities for businesses willing to take up the challenge. And this challenge can seldom be met without the use of partnerships.
For more information on John Zanni, the WHIR has written several articles and blog posts relating to Zanni and his work at Microsoft.
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