Virtualization

Application Virtualization

Application virtualization is software technology that encapsulates application software from the underlying operating system on which it is executed. A fully virtualized application is not installed in the traditional sense, although it is still executed as if it were. The application behaves at runtime like it is directly interfacing with the original operating system and all the resources managed by it, but can be isolated or sandboxed to varying degrees.

The virtualized application is executed on the end user’s local computer. When an application is requested, components are downloaded to the local computer on demand. Only certain parts of an application are required in order to launch; the remainder can be downloaded in the background as needed. Once completely downloaded, a streamed application can function without a network connection. Various models and degrees of isolation ensure that streaming applications will not interfere with other applications, and that they can be cleanly removed when closed.