Today, virtualization is used mainly by business users though in the near future is may become more popular with home users as its emerging technology changes the face of computing as we currently know it. The main advantage is that a virtualized system will focus on applications that it is running rather than a single operating system. This will facilitate computer back-ups, increasing flexibility and security.
A virtualized environment is one that is comprised of a host operating system which runs multiple guest operating systems. Provided enough resources exist on the machine (memory, disk space and processors), it can physically boot Linux while running a number of other operating systems, say Windows 95, XP, Vista even DOS, all at the same time without any significant slowdown.
There are currently two main forms of virtualization. The complete software solution which will work on all Intel, VIA and AMD CPUs. Though it can be a little slower at times, it does allow multiple operating systems to run simultaneously without causing errors.
The other option is a combination of hardware and software and requires an Intel or AMD CPU. Intel calls their virtualization technology IVT and AMD refers to theirs as AMD-V. The hardware assisted virtualization still requires some software though it is not nearly as complex as the complete software solution. It can exist outside of the guest operating system and it has the potential to run much faster due to the fact that the hardware is doing most of the work.
As virtualization moves forward, it is coming closer to a complete hardware solution. The result would be a system in which all software capable of execution on the physical hardware will run in the virtual machine. The advantages of full virtualization include
· Success in sharing a computer system between multiple users
· Ease in isolating computer users from each other
· Ability to emulate new hardware to improve reliability, productivity and security.