Selenium tests not running in parallel in grid using testng

NOTE:

In the testng xml, if i change the parallel= to classes or methods then it runs the tests fine but it does it one by one not in parallel.

If I keep parallel="tests" then it runs in parallel but it opens the same browser three times in the same VM, which is not correct.

My setup:

I have 11 virtual machines setup and Selenium Grid nodes have been initialised for each browser on each box. I have created my testng xml to run tests on each box. The tests are written in Java using Webdriver.

My problem:

When I execute the test, 3 instances of IE are opened and the tests are run in parallel in the same VM. I have different VMs setup with the correct nodes so from my testng xml below, I expected the tests to run correctly in IE, FF and IE9 in a different VM.

TESTNG XML

<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd" >

<suite name="Parallel Tests" verbose="1" thread-count="3" parallel="tests" >

<tests>

<test name="IE11">

  <parameter name="GridBrowser"  value="iexplore11windows7"/>

<classes>
<class name="test.tes_connect.homepage.VerifyCarouselIsWorkingCorrectly" />
</classes>
</test>

<test name="FF25">

  <parameter name="GridBrowser"  value="firefox25win7"/>

<classes>
<class name="test.tes_connect.homepage.VerifyCarouselIsWorkingCorrectly" />
</classes>
</test>


<test name="IE9">

  <parameter name="GridBrowser"  value="iexplore9windows7"/>

<classes>
<class name="test.tes_connect.homepage.VerifyCarouselIsWorkingCorrectly" />
</classes>
</test>

</tests>

</suite>

CONFIGURATION.JAVA

package com.environments;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;

public class Configuration {

public static DesiredCapabilities setCap; 

public static String SeleniumGridSetup(String gridBrowser) {

    String newGridBrowser = gridBrowser;

    switch (newGridBrowser) {


        // QA CLIENT 11

        case "iexplore8windowsXP": 

            System.out.println("Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP");
            setCap= DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
            setCap.setBrowserName("internet explorer"); 
            setCap.setPlatform(org.openqa.selenium.Platform.XP);
            setCap.setVersion("8.0"); 
            break;

        case "firefox23": 

            System.out.println("Firefox 23 on Windows XP");
            setCap= DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
            setCap.setBrowserName("firefox"); 
            setCap.setPlatform(org.openqa.selenium.Platform.XP);
            setCap.setVersion("23.0");
            break;

        case "chromeLatestwinXP":

            System.out.println("Chrome Latest Version on Windows XP");
            setCap= DesiredCapabilities.chrome();
            setCap.setBrowserName("chrome"); 
            setCap.setPlatform(org.openqa.selenium.Platform.XP);
            setCap.setVersion("L1");
            break;

        // QA CLIENT 10

        case "iexplore7winXP": 

            System.out.println("Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP");
            setCap= DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
            setCap.setBrowserName("internet explorer"); 
            setCap.setPlatform(org.openqa.selenium.Platform.XP);
            setCap.setVersion("7.0"); 
            break;


            ...... ETC ETC 
    }

    return newGridBrowser;
}

TEST CLASS

package test.authentication;

import java.net.URL;

import static org.testng.Assert.fail;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterTest;
import org.testng.annotations.Parameters;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import ui.common.masthead;
import ui.authentication.logInPage;

import com.environments.Configuration;
import com.thoughtworks.twist.core.execution.TwistScenarioDataStore;
import com.data.Users;

public class LoginWithCorrectUsernameToTESConnect {

public WebDriver browser;
public static String url; 
private StringBuffer verificationErrors = new StringBuffer();

@Autowired
private TwistScenarioDataStore scenarioStore;


// Selenium grid constructor for running tests in the Grid

@Parameters({"GridBrowser"})
public LoginWithCorrectUsernameToTESConnect(String GridBrowser) throws Exception {          

    Configuration.SeleniumGridSetup(GridBrowser);
    browser = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(Configuration.getHubUrl()),  Configuration.setCap);

    url = Configuration.getUrl();
    browser.manage().window().maximize();
    browser.navigate().to(url);
}

// Webdriver constructor for running tests using the Twist IDE 

public LoginWithCorrectUsernameToTESConnect(WebDriver browser) throws Exception {

    this.browser = browser; 
    browser.manage().window().maximize();

    url = Configuration.getUrl();
    browser.navigate().to(url); 
}

// Test method for login to TES Connect start from here 

@Test
public void loginWithDifferentUsersAndVerifyUsernameDisplayed() throws Exception {

    for (int i = 0; i < Users.getUsernameFromList().size(); i++) {

        try {

            browser.findElement(masthead.UCP.loginLink).click();
            browser.findElement(logInPage.usernameInput).sendKeys(Users.getUsernameFromList().get(i));
            browser.findElement(logInPage.passwordInput).sendKeys(Configuration.getGenericUserPassword());
            browser.findElement(logInPage.logInButton).click();

            Assert.assertEquals(browser.findElement(masthead.UCP.userName).getText(), Users.getUsernameFromList().get(i), "Username did not match");
            browser.findElement(masthead.UCP.logoutLink).click();       

        }
        catch (Error e) { 

            verificationErrors.append(e.toString()); 
        }
    }
}

@AfterTest
public void tearDown() {

    browser.quit();

    String verificationErrorString = verificationErrors.toString();

    if (!"".equals(verificationErrorString)) {

          fail(verificationErrorString);
    }
}
}