Parallels bags Microsoft .NET brainiac to float clouds

Mac love not the only fruit worth picking

Parallels, the virtualization shop putting Windows desktop apps on Macs, has dipped into Microsoft's brain bank for a new chief technology officer.

Microsoft technical fellow Mike Toutonghi is joining Parallels after nearly 20 years at Redmond. He was just one of 22 technical fellows at the world's largest software company.

Toutonghi led development on the Windows 95 kernel and was knee-deep in Microsoft's answer to Java: he managed the Common Language Runtime (CLR) as an architect and product unit manager and also co-founded and managed the .NET platform push.

He's part of a trio of appointments at Parallels that includes chief financial officer David Arkley and vice-president and general manager of Europe and North Africa Jesper Frederiksen.

Toutonghi will work closely with Parallels' chief executive, vice-president of engineering, board members and other executives "to ensure technical strategy aligns with Parallels' broader vision and customer requirements", the company said.

Rather than focus on deeper Mac love for Windows, it sounds as though Toutonghi's priority will be Parallels' provisioning, billing and infrastructure-as-a-service suite, called Automation.

"He will focus on strengthening Parallels Automation's position as the platform of choice for hosting and cloud service providers, while identifying next-generation capabilities for customers and partners," the company said in a statement.

Toutonghi has spent more than 25 years in tech and is an inventor and co-inventor with more than 19 issued patents and 30 patent applications. ®