What is Application Virtualization?

Application virtualization or application virtualization technology allows users to access and use applications from computers other than the computer where the application is installed. Using application virtualization software, IT administrators can set up remote applications on the server and then deliver the applications to the end user's computer. For users, the experience of a virtualized application is the same as using an installed application on a physical computer.

Key topics regarding application virtualization:
How does application virtualization work?
What are the three major advantages of application virtualization?
How does application virtualization work?

The most common method of virtualizing applications is the server-based method. This means that IT administrators implement remote applications on servers in the organization's data center or through managed services. Then, IT administrators use application virtualization software to deliver the application to the user's desktop or other connected device. The user can now access and use the application as if it were installed locally on their computer, and the user's actions will be transmitted back to the server to be executed.

Application virtualization is an important part of digital workspace and desktop virtualization.

What are the three major advantages of application virtualization?
Application management:
Application virtualization makes it easier for IT departments to manage and maintain applications across organizations. Through application virtualization, instead of manually installing the application on each user's computer, IT administrators can install the application once on the central server and then deploy the application on the user's device as needed. In addition to saving installation time, this also makes it easier to update or patch applications, because IT only needs to do this on a single server.
Scalability:
Application virtualization allows IT administrators to deploy virtual applications to various connected devices, regardless of the operating system or storage space of those devices. This allows thin client provisioning, where the user uses a low-cost computer to access the application, while a centralized server handles all the computing power required to run the application. As a result, organizations spend much less on computing hardware, because employees only need a basic computer to access the applications they need for work. Application virtualization also allows users to access applications that normally cannot run on their computer's operating system because the applications actually run on centralized servers. This is usually used to run Windows applications virtually on the Linux operating system.
safety:
Application virtualization software enables IT administrators to centrally control which users can access which applications. If the user's application permissions in the organization change, the IT administrator only needs to delete the user's access permissions to the application. Without application virtualization, IT administrators would have to physically uninstall the application from the user's device. If a user’s device is lost or stolen, this central control of application access is especially important because IT administrators can revoke remote access to sensitive data without having to track the lost device.