Also memory and desktop are operated virtually

Many IT departments have been working intensively on various aspects of storage virtualization (also referred to as software-defined storage) for some time. This abstraction of storage systems through a software layer is one of the virtualization techniques, which are already very widespread and often in use. The core of storage virtualization is the decoupling of server and storage components. The great advantage of using this kind of virtualization is the fact that this virtualization layer eliminates the need to use only and exclusively the storage systems of a manufacturer.

For example, IT professionals can build the primary system on the basis of their chosen manufacturer with correspondingly good performance data when mirroring computers, while the backup mirror is created on a cost-effective system. Thus, the trend here also clearly goes in the direction of a standardization of these techniques in order to avoid or at least reduce the dependencies of individual storage providers.


The topic of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), which is about virtualization of the workstations of the users up to the "workplace as a service", is still on the agenda among many IT organizations. The virtual desktops were for a long time one of the absolute trend themes in the IT: who spoke of virtualization, came sooner or later to the term VDI for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. In the meantime, however, it has become somewhat more quiet about this form of virtualization. Companies like VMware are of the opinion that many of the users are still struggling with the inconveniences of the existing Terminal Desktop (RDS) environments and are therefore reluctant to move in this direction. So, many analysts are more likely to rely on the cloud for desktops, and believe that the companies are looking to make the jobs faster and faster to deploy directly from the cloud.


Problem areas at VDI remain, however, according to unanimous opinion of many experts besides the storage costs also the necessary bandwidths and the availability of the applications. These include reasons why more and more companies are thinking about application virtualization. This is a kind of virtualization, which, in comparison to the other techniques, is a kind of intermediate layer between an application and the resources of the operating system. The goal is to separate the applications from the operating system itself, but to continue operating on the same user interface on the user's desktop.