Oracle® Solaris 10 System Virtualization Essentials

Appendix A: History of Virtualization and Architectural Evolution

A Brief History of System Virtualization

This appendix describes the origin and evolution of server virtualization, and describes design issues, problems, and solutions that still affect and influence today’s systems.

Then and Now, Why and How

A 40-year-old overnight success in commercial use since the 1960s, server virtualization is now experiencing renewed interest. Available in different forms on every modern computer family, server virtualization permits multiple computing environments to coexist on a single computer, with each environment behaving as if it has its own dedicated computer. IT organizations use this approach to run multiple computing environments—even different ...