The modern business world is constantly evolving, and one of the revolutions that have allowed for this is virtualization. You might have heard about server virtualization or even desktop virtualization. Did you know that you can virtualize your applications, too? In fact, it can be one of the most valuable uses for virtualization, especially considering the upcoming Windows Server 2003 end-of-support date.

Of course, this doesn’t help you at all if you’re still asking the million-dollar question, “What exactly is virtualization, anyway?” The Gartner IT glossary defines virtualization as such:

Virtualization is the abstraction of IT resources that masks the physical nature and boundaries of those resources from resource users. An IT resource can be a server, a client, storage, networks, applications or OSs. Essentially, any IT building block can potentially be abstracted from resource users.

Basically, virtualization is splitting the resource from any hardware or software constraints it might have. A good example is the use of multiple operating systems on a virtual server. Without the limitations of hardware, you can run multiple instances of operating systems on the same machine. Another example would be separating a desktop’s operating system from the machine itself and running it through a virtual environment, effectively allowing you to run the instance of the operating system through any workstation connected to the network.

Virtualizing your applications can provide your business with a number of benefits, including:

• Application Isolation: As we mentioned in the previous example, virtualization can allow multiple applications that need specific server operating systems to coexist on the same server. This can help businesses that might rely on older applications that aren’t compatible with more recent server operating systems.
• Application Availability and Independence: When you virtualize an application, you’re essentially extending its life cycle. By doing this, you’re keeping it available until you’ve had adequate time to find a better, more recent solution to your application dilemma. If you were to lose access to a mission-critical application, it could be difficult to keep operations running. It can also make it easier to call applications from one server to another to improve accessibility should one server become unavailable for some reason.
• Reduced Costs: One of the biggest benefits of application virtualization is that you’re cutting them free of the restrictive nature of hardware. Let’s say you have four applications that all run on different server operating systems. Without virtualization, you would need dedicated server units for each of them, and all four of these will likely be underutilized. Meanwhile, they’re still racking up the electricity bill. Virtualized applications allow you to minimize the amount of hardware you need, and offers a unique return on investment.

Application virtualization is a great way to start cutting down on your operation costs and streamlining the way you access applications. Give us a call at (502) 473-6407 to get started.