While cloud computing and virtualization are often considered the same and one thing, they are actually not interchangeable. As more and more enterprises continue to invest in cloud computing, it is obligatory upon business owners and IT professionals to modify their digital strategies to the requirements of the cloud-first age.
While preparing to do so, developing an understanding virtualization, which is among the main technological components underlying the cloud computing, is very important. Cloud computing would not even be possible in the way it is presently being conceived without virtualization. Actually, without virtualization, cloud computing would not even be as cost-effective as it is currently.
Having said that, it is important to recognize that cloud computing and virtualization are linked in an extricable manner with each other, but they are not actually the same technology. Even though cloud computing usually relies on virtualization, it actually has more use cases that surpass what virtualization characteristically encompasses. These differences might seem light to a casual observer, but they can have a significant impact on the operations of your company’s IT in practice.
Understanding virtualization
Virtualization allows for the use of software to manipulate hardware. This simply lays the foundation for the creation of the virtual environments on server, computers, and, or storage devices that allow users to use these hardware elements more efficiently that originally possible.
For instance, when applied to servers, virtualization lets users to create several virtual servers ‘on top’ of just a single physical server. Users can then use every distinct server to simultaneously run several applications, ensuring that the capacity of the underlying physical server is utilized to the possible fullest extend notwithstanding of fluctuations in the activity of specific applications.
Similarly, virtualization has proven beyond doubt to be an incredible advantage in storage efficiency. Physical storage capacity in this context is managed by software, which allocates space based on user requests. This process creates virtual storage environments enable you to make efficient use of every storage device you have, thus helping you avoid paying unnecessarily for capacity that you don’t need. This helps you achieve efficiency without incurring unnecessary storage costs.
How does virtualization support cloud computing?
Generally speaking, cloud computing opens up a variety of digital resources to organizations and businesses of all sizes operating in various industries. Thanks to cloud computing, businesses can access top-tier applications as well as software platforms without even experiencing the difficulty of managing all these tools in-house. Via this model, third parties offer businesses with storage and other services on subscription basis, giving organizations that without strong financial muscles to avoid huge upfront capital expenditures on new software and hardware.
In many ways, it is virtualization that actually makes this third party model possible. Years ago, vendors had to reserve one server for a specific business. Now, vendors can now use the same hardware to serve many clients at one, thanks to the efficiency of the strategic virtualization.
Ultimately, virtualization lets third-party vendors to provide business cloud computing platforms and applications that these businesses might find too expensive to own. Cloud computing vendors depend on virtualization to help keep their offerings affordable through using their own hardware effiiently.
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