Offering Business Owners New Choices
Virtualization is one of those ‘IT’ terms that many people love to incorporate into their vocabulary but which can be used in and out of context with great regularity. Virtualization is actually quite simple and straightforward – it is the process that allows multiple operating systems to run on one single computer.
But many people might ask, why do you need virtualization and why would you want to run multiple operating systems on one computer anyway? The answer is simple and straightforward, although the reasons can be varied according to who is using the concept and how they are applying it to their own set of unique circumstances.
Take a graphic designer, for example. Graphic designers often work with heavy graphics files for clients when they create annual reports, advertisements or other items that are laden with images and graphics. In line with this, a graphic designer is going to use a dedicated and specialized graphics package. Typically these specialized graphics applications are Mac based applications.
Conversely to this though, many graphic designers work alone and run their own solo and boutique practice. As a small business owner they will likely have extensive business administration to do on a daily or weekly basis including needing to complete proposals for clients, send out invoices and prepare taxation and other financial documentation. For these activities, graphic designers will typically use applications such as Word, Excel or other dedicated accounting packages, many of which work effectively on a Windows based operating system.
In years gone by, having two very distinct sets of requirements, meant that a graphic designer would need to operate separate Mac and PC systems. However, with the advent of virtualization, graphic designers can now operate both operating systems on their Mac, almost at the flick of a switch.
Not only does virtualization make a designers operation cost effective in terms of not needing to maintain two separate systems, but it also provides far greater efficiency, as the designer can move ubiquitously between the two without having to leave his or her seat.
You have to be mindful not to get overawed or overwhelmed by the capacity of virtualization though. Sometimes people think that it gives you exponential growth ie. the more operating systems you add to a machine the greater the power, speed or capacity you achieve. In fact this could not be further from the truth.
While virtualization does offer the ability to move between multiple operating systems on the one machine, it still maintains the same power, speed or capacity. This is because the hardware of the machine doesn’t change when a virtualization application is loaded onto it (unless the computer owner decides to upgrade the infrastructure at the same time of course).
But virtualization is not for everyone. It is the perfect solution for home or small business usage but is not really designed for more complex, high end and demanding applications where multiple servers are clustered together to bring about an increase in performance. |
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