The Advisers Group

Typically when discussing virtualization in the SOHO or SMB market the industry is discussing the ability to run multiple operating systems (OS) on one physical computer. Each OS runs independently from the other with its own applications. Initially it can be a hard concept to grasp but like anything else; once you learn it you’ll think it’s easy to understand.

It works similar to the way that an application like Word works. Word is able to open many documents at a time and each document is separate from the other. If you think of Word as your computer, and each document as a virtual machine you have the concept of virtualization down.

The diagram below show shows a Web Server, Database Server, and a Mail server running in virtual machines on one platform.

Containing costs, setting up training environments, application development, application testing, and disaster recovery are some common uses of virtualization.

Microsoft, VMware, and XEN are the most well know virtualization vendors and more information can be found on their webistes.