What is the requirement of virtualization platform in implementing cloud?

Virtualization is the foundation of cloud computing. It enables creation of an intelligent layer of abstraction to hide the intricacies of the software or hardware that is underlying beneath the layer.

We can list a plethora of platforms such as VMWare that are associated with a technology to provision a private cloud and also to act as a union between private cloud and external cloud. We need to appreciate three vital attributes for creating a private cloud such as management of service level policies, cloud operating system and virtualization. Virtualization separates the back-end level and user level for creation of a seamless environment between the two.

Virtualization is used for deployment of models of cloud hosting services including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) among others.

Following are the three Important Attributes of Virtualization that Signify its Role in Cloud Computing:

  - Partitioning can be used for supporting a multitude of operating systems and applications within a single physical system such as a web server.

  - Isolation imparts protection to virtual machines from any events such as virus attacks or crashes in other machines. Additionally, encapsulation is also used for protection of every application to prevent it from interfering with other applications.

  - Virtual machines can use encapsulation for being represented as well as stored as single files in order to facilitate their identification and presentation to other applications

Different operating systems such as Windows or Linux can be enabled for sharing same hardware with help of virtualization. It is possible to shift operating systems between different hardware even while different applications are running with help of virtualization.

Cloud computing leverages storage virtualization for creating a layer of abstraction between applications and storage platforms that are being used by these applications for storage of the data. Storage virtualization enables providers to offer storage as a commodity.

Companies can leverage virtualization layer for choosing the platform they desire without concerns of getting locked in with a particular provider.

One of the important reasons that make virtualization as a key component of cloud computing is it facilitates delivery of cloud based services. It provisions a platform that optimizes intricate resources of IT in a manner that is scalable and enables cost effectiveness as well.

Virtualization can be used for almost any component including applications, operating systems, hardware, networks, memory, and storage to name a few. Virtualization is important for cloud computing because of its ability of decoupling hardware from software.