Overview of Technological Virtualization

With unprecedented changes taking place in the global IT industry at a rampant pace, industries as well other organizations that utilize their technical skills and services are shifting their use from desktop virtualization to new levels where this concept and idea can be applied to provide greater benefit to users. One of such organizations that have enjoyed a roller coaster ride for the past 25 years has been the field of education. This ride mainly started when the concept and application of desktop computers became part of mainstream education.

However, the pace at which these changes are taking place in the industry all around the world, the sector of education intends to expect far more from the technology domain that it gets in return. This is precisely where the concept and application of the virtualization concept has become a mainstream idea in schools, despite the fact that it is relatively new (Abdel and Huxley, 2005). Defined in its simplest terms the concept of virtualization is the technique employed through which the physical characteristics and features of computing resources through which they interact with each other and other external resources are hidden.

In practical terms, the concept is used in numerous situations such as when we make use of Google Maps or when we use an online shopping website to purchase a product of our liking, we are making use of virtualization. Hence, it can be said that the application and the ways through which the concept of virtualization is used and applied encompasses a broad spectrum of services that it can provide in various sectors such as education, shopping and others.

In every way the employment of the virtualization concept has provided the educational sector with a reduction in their costs, boosted their efficiency and has explored new frontiers through which they can innovate and incorporate contemporary technologies in their own mechanisms and technical infrastructure.

Technical Description

In order to further understand the concept of virtualization, it is first necessary to comprehend a virtual computer which can simply be stated as a computer in software. The concept of virtualization comes into play when the physical hardware is decoupled from the operating system. This develops a positive impact in the operational flexibility and utilization of the different resources underlying physical hardware.

Even though a part of software, the concept of virtualization is now being used and is being applied in different microprocessors through which they intend to increase their efficiency and operational capabilities in the long run. In a traditional and physical environment of computer use, one operating system supports one or more applications. Hence, the movement between resources is highly localized and restricted. However, in a virtual environment, the same physical computer makes use of the resources present in the physical computer to be shared between various different virtual computers in a virtual environment.

Also, each of the physical machines will be operating on different operating systems. An error of occurrence of any problem in one of the machines will not affect the entire thread and virtual network of machines that are connected together.

Further moving into the dynamics of this technology, we will also come across desktop virtualization, a service and application which is commonly being used in schools and other educational institutes on a massive level (King, 2009). With the help of this technology the operating system and the application that it supports can easily be transferred from desktop to a virtual computer running in a server. Thus, in case of any data loss in a computer crash, it can easily be retrieved from the server machine that will save it in virtual mode.