Enterprises who develop software understand it is a long arduous process, which includes more than just hours of coding. Programmers have to meticulously evaluate their software to ensure it will run properly once released. However, analyzing software in the many situations it will have to run in takes a great deal of time and money. Instead of wasting valuable time, testers examine certain aspects of software utilizing virtual environments in order to speed up the evaluation process.

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The process (known as virtualization) includes building a virtual machine (VM), which consists of an operating system and application – then employing the VM to test a specific part of a program.  There are various approaches to virtualization such as service, network, and application virtualization. Learn more about the specific virtualization services available, the benefits of this best practice, and understand how this process can help enterprise businesses succeed in their digital marketing endeavors.

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Application virtualization is a process where applications separate themselves from an operating system in order to run on another system without being installed. For complete virtualization, there needs to be a virtualization layer that redirects the application to a virtualized location. The unique aspect of the technology is the application never realizes that it’s not physically installed on the system. Also, it gives an amazing convenience and ability to a user who wants run an application, which normally only runs on a specific operating system (like Microsoft) on a different normally non-compatible system (like OS X). 

The benefit of application virtualization comes into play by decreasing the issues caused by housing several applications residing in the terminal server.  Application Virtualization prevents these types of issues by running in a user’s machine in a sort of sandbox environment preventing localized installation.

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Computer engineers need to test their programs in order to have thorough quality assessments. Service virtualization allows programmers to mirror specific parts of software in various situations. Developers need to be able to quickly test certain behaviors of a program to fully understand what functions properly and what needs to be fixed. By not running the program completely, a tester or developer saves valuable time when working on a time sensitive project. One of the best uses of service virtualization for businesses is if they have multiple teams wanting to test and access the application at once.

There are many steps in testing software before it can be released to the public for consumption.  One aspect is called network virtualization, which is when a developer tests software in different situations on a simulation of a network in order to analyze if the software can function properly. Utilizing Network Virtualization is a risk because the VMs have to be as completely accurate, or the tests will not be valid. 

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Virtualization In The Marketplace

VMware and Microsoft’s Azure are two popular platforms that offer virtualization to businesses. These companies supply businesses and agencies with the opportunities to purchase VMs to develop or test programs, run applications, and improve their datacenter. It is a cost efficient solution allowing workloads to be distributed faster, an increased performance, and many operations becoming automated, which all leads to an easy IT experience.

Virtualization is a valuable asset to any application developer who wants to conveniently test and run a particular part of their program.  Companies such as IBM, Oracle, and SAP utilize VM to test and develop their software. Any business can scale virtualization to meet their needs.  For example, VMs can give a company faster CPUs, more memory, and increased local disk performance. Enterprises gain flexibility and the scalability they need to run a successful business with VMs.

Omnie’s staff of experienced technology professionals works with these platforms to run a series of customized tests specific for client’s needs. For enterprise businesses ready to make impactful changes to their existing site or launch a new site – the best practice of virtualization is essential for reaching the next level with a seamless transition and confidence of final results.