Parforce

17:07 Feb 1, 2011 

The Encylcopaedic Muret-Sanders actually lists Parforceleistung - tour de force (as suggested by efreitag). You will find lots of other suggestions along the lines of brilliant feat/achievement/performance, etc. if you do a search for the synonym "Glanzleistung".

08:42 Feb 1, 2011 

Thanks for suggestions so far. My initial instinct was indeed that it was something to do with putting in exceptional effort so I originally had "pull out all the stops" (which I might still use, as this idea has been confirmed). However, I was still unable to find anything to corroborate this usage in German in any of the major dictionaries and reference works, but did come across the reference to the abbreviation - which, since the subject matter is in fact IT, rather confused the matter and made me question my judgement!

01:09 Feb 1, 2011 

From the not especially reliable free dictionary, but it gives you an idea:
in equestrian sports, a type of riding conducted as a hunt with hounds in pursuit of an animal (deer, boar, wolf, fox, hare) or following an artificially made animal “scent” for a distance of up to 35 km. Modern par force hunting developed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 19th century.
...I knew it wouldn't be nice.

01:08 Feb 1, 2011 

It means something to do with hunting, but don't ask me to look it up, as I don't think I will like it...
It comes from the French "par la force", meaning brute force. Brute force, in IT, can be a means of breaking data encryption by repeated attempts. However, I don't think that is what it is referring to, and this has nothing to do with IT.