Virtualisation allows a single computer to perform the same function as multiple computers and enables people to share a number of computers’ resources easily. Essentially it consolidates a number of servers allowing one computer to do the job of multiple computers on a single platform.
To draw a simple analogy, it is rather like four people that drive to work in individual cars despite living next door to each other and working in the same office. The reality is that it’s wasteful, uneconomic and a pointless use of resources.
So in summary, virtualisation is better described as a range of technologies that consolidates computer resource and should not to be associated with the term ‘beam me up Scotty’. Leading the Virtualisation field is VMware but if anyone remembers Smiths Crisps, then VMware have a similar market share to the once Crisp giant and there are a few ‘Gary Linekers’ of Walkers crisp fame on the horizon in Microsoft, Citrix and Parallells, three vendors with very compelling and competitive virtualisation offerings. Other vendors aligned to this segment include Thin Computing vendors such as Wyse who offer desktop virtualisation as do Ericom. Storage virtualisation is a growth area with vendors such as Virsto Software and would you know it, Mitel are joining the bandwagon by providing voice virtualisation in partnership with – you guessed it, Smiths Crisps, I mean VMware.