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Virtualization is a hot topic in today's demanding "get-more-for-less" business environment. Consolidating numerous computer systems so they run efficiently on fewer servers is a standard operating procedure for many IT departments. However, virtualizing entire server banks is not the only way to achieve more efficient deployment of computing resources.
Rather than virtualizing everything, another approach for some types of businesses may be a strategy called "application virtualization." Its growing popularity is driving an industry of vendors providing the specialized software needed to make this targeted consolidation of key programs work.
This type of virtualization lets IT departments more flexibly install an application on a laptop or desktop PC in an office. It controls the deployment of workers' tools in an office so the configurations are standardized throughout the company.
"Desktop virtualization involves the whole OS and applications and packages that to run on some virtualization environment. Application virtualization just takes the programs that are used. This gives all users the exact same copy," Shawn Cooney, cofounder and director of research for Certeon, told TechNewsWorld.
An Old Concept
The idea behind virtualization in general is nothing new. It was a well-used strategy on mainframe computers in the 1960s. The concept found new money-saving uses for the massive server farms in data centers and spread to multiple locations within corporations' various branch office sprawls.
"Virtualization got a foothold in the data center. They separated the hardware and the software to eliminate hardware or appliance sprawl. Then this spread to the branch. Then the focus turned to laptop and desktop so the entire image runs from a central server," Gareth Taube, vice president of marketing for Certeon, told TechNewsWorld.
An alternative to both full and desktop virtualization developed. The approach is to just virtualize the applications that are important to each user within the company. This allows for customization via a sandbox environment within the laptop or desktop. It handles all version control and program-patching functions, according to Taube.
Security and Safety
The result is that companies using application virtualization take the application, its management and even the version control out of each separate computer. Instead, the applications are fed to individual computers from a central server.
Since the applications that workers use no longer live on their computers, workers no longer can perform unauthorized updates or install add-ons that IT has not approved. Of course, the downside is that the hardware has to be constantly tethered to the server, noted Taube.
"This is key to companies using application virtualization because the only things moving between the local computer and the server is the data. They get manageability and version control. They get the security of having a gold master of the application that everybody is using," Taube explained.
Not Just a Desktop
Desktop virtualization involves packaging and delivering access to a computer environment stored at one location to a remote device. This local device might not even run a native operating system that is the same as the delivered desktop environment.
In essence, desktop virtualization separates the link between the physical machine a worker uses and the software that computer runs. This process is controlled by a desktop virtualization product much like the hypervisor software layer that controls a complete virtual computer. The virtualization software emulates the PC hardware environment of the local computer and runs a virtual machine alongside its own operating system.
This is not the same process as using a thin client. That technology tethers a local keyboard and monitor to interact with the operating system and applications hosted on a network server. A thin client usually does not come with all of the computing components for the device to function untethered as a stand-alone computer.
The Benefits
Desktop virtualization is a little older than application virtualization. VMWare was an early entrant in the desktop virtualization field, and it initially ran into some issues around how quickly the desktop could be delivered from the server, Taube explained.
"People were used to having a desktop performance level. They did not like having to wait for the network server to deliver it. So this was problematic," he said.
Application virtualization is newer and solved many problems relating to managing core enterprise applications. Application virtualization is a much smarter way to approach application management and control critical corporate applications, he said. People don't really want to give up their individual laptop with all its capabilities.
"As we move toward cloud computing, where users can plug in from anywhere and have access to any application, virtualized applications are going to be a critical piece of this," said Taube.
Similar Tech
Virtualization technology is a close relation to what's called "ghosting technology." A ghosted image of a server, for instance, allows IT departments to maintain a master copy of an installation and place that image on all of the computers a company uses.
"Virtualization does have similarities to that ghosting process. But virtualization has other features. For instance, users can pause the virtual machine, move it to another location, start it up again and be exactly where they were when they resume operating. From an installation perspective, it is definitely different," Lew Smith, practice manager of virtualization solutions for Interphase Systems, told TechNewsWorld.
Running a virtualized deployment has another benefit over disk imaging, added Cooney: With a disk image version, IT workers do it once, set it and forget it. (They do need to patch it to keep it up to date, however.)
"With the desktop or the application virtualization model, those images are in contact on some kind of a schedule with the master image and can keep it updated or stop use of it. With application virtualizing, you don't have to move every part of it, just the changed part gets redeployed," Cooney explained. "So it's a sophisticated version of disk imaging. It keeps the programs under the corporate compliance rules."
Office Logistics
So if desktop and application virtualization are close cousins, which technology strain is better suited for smaller companies? That answer depends on the type of business.
"It depends on the type of workers in the company. Call center workers can get better use out of desktop virtualization because it runs over a LAN (local area network). This gives more seats over multiple shifts. Application virtualization is more suited to companies with remote workers, consultants, etc., and where employees are where working from home, a customer's location or branch offices," replied Cooney.
Either way, with desktop or application virtualization, the instant a
worker logs in, the software used is current, added Taube.
