As technical as virtualization and virtual containers are, there’s no reason your company shouldn’t benefit from them. IT specialists all over the country are setting up and supporting these technologies for small businesses to increase efficiency and cut down on technology costs.

One of the biggest money-saving IT trends of the past two decades is the cloud, but due to popular demand, virtualization technology has also become an important business improvement trend in recent years. Here are a few ways virtualization is used to improve efficiency and productivity in the office.

Virtualization and cloud computing can be confusing, especially to business owners who are not familiar with them. But when you understand their differences, you’ll be able to best take advantage of these technologies.

Virtualization
Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc.

Desktop virtualization allows you to deliver computing resources to workstations in your network. Those resources are packed into virtual machines (VMs), which can be deployed as easily as any file. However, there are risks associated with trying to manage an overwhelming number of VMs.

The problem with VM sprawl
VM sprawl is a phenomenon that occurs when there are too many virtual machines on a network.

Cybersecurity threats are increasing for both small and large businesses, which means solutions that protect mobile devices are no longer just nice-to-have solutions. As more work is handled outside of the office, the risks to your data increase. Virtualization vendors are leading the charge to tackle these challenges with innovative solutions.

Serverless computing is one way to reduce management burdens brought about by the need to configure several servers. But before you adopt this technology, it’s important that you first understand its basic principles as well as how you can leverage it to improve your day-to-day operations and, ultimately, your bottom line.

If you own an Apple computer, you might think it’s impossible to install Windows-based software on it. But with operating system (OS) virtualization, you can run any application you want and enjoy exciting new cross-platform features.
Configure an entire machine with a few clicks
With programs like VMware and Parallels, installing Microsoft’s OS on your Mac is almost as easy as creating a new document in Office.

Have you heard about cloud computing and virtualization technologies but don’t know the difference? Or maybe you’ve heard a fellow business owner talk about why one is better than the other? Here are the differences between the two and the things you must know to determine which solution is best for your business.

Virtualization and container technologies are confusing topics in their own right, and comparing and contrasting them is even harder. To understand the differences between container and virtualization technologies, it’s best to clear up some commonly misunderstood information on how they work.

Routers, switches, modems, gateways, firewalls, servers, and storage devices — these are just some of the many machines you need to build a network infrastructure that enables effective internal and external communications. Even when pared down to serve fewer users, the costs of building a similar infrastructure were prohibitive for SMBs, at least until hyperconvergence came along.