Close Menu
    Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram X (Twitter)
    Blue Tech Wave Media
    Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram X (Twitter)
    • Home
    • Leadership Alliance
    • Exclusives
    • Internet Governance
      • Regulation
      • Governance Bodies
      • Emerging Tech
    • IT Infrastructure
      • Networking
      • Cloud
      • Data Centres
    • Company Stories
      • Profiles
      • Startups
      • Tech Titans
      • Partner Content
    • Others
      • Fintech
        • Blockchain
        • Payments
        • Regulation
      • Tech Trends
        • AI
        • AR/VR
        • IoT
      • Video / Podcast
    Blue Tech Wave Media
    Home » Virtual machines: Virtual computers within computers
    virtual machines-0829
    virtual machines-0829
    IT Infrastructure

    Virtual machines: Virtual computers within computers

    By Iydia DingAugust 29, 2024No Comments3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    • Virtualisation is the process of creating a software-based or “virtual” version of a computer.
    • A virtual machine is a computer file, typically called an image, that behaves like an actual computer. 

    A virtual machine, commonly shortened to just VM, is no different than any other physical computer like a laptop, smart phone, or server. It has a CPU, memory, disks to store your files, and can connect to the internet if needed. While the parts that make up your computer (called hardware) are physical and tangible, VMs are often thought of as virtual computers or software-defined computers within physical servers, existing only as code.

    How virtual machines work

    Virtualisation is the process of creating a software-based, or “virtual” version of a computer, with dedicated amounts of CPU, memory, and storage that are “borrowed” from a physical host computer—such as your personal computer or a remote server such as a server in a cloud provider’s datacenter. A virtual machine is a computer file, typically called an image, that behaves like an actual computer.

    It can run in a window as a separate computing environment, often to run a different operating system—or even to function as the user’s entire computer experience—as is common on many people’s work computers. The virtual machine is partitioned from the rest of the system, meaning that the software inside a VM can’t interfere with the host computer’s primary operating system.

    Also read: The importance of server virtualisation in modern IT infrastructure

    Benefits of using VMs

    Cost savings: Running multiple virtual environments from one piece of infrastructure means that you can drastically reduce your physical infrastructure footprint. This boosts your bottom line—decreasing the need to maintain nearly as many servers and saving on maintenance costs and electricity.

    Agility and speed: Spinning up a VM is relatively easy and quick and is much simpler than provisioning an entire new environment for your developers. Virtualisation makes the process of running dev-test scenarios a lot quicker.

    Lowered downtime: VMs are so portable and easy to move from one hypervisor to another on a different machine—this means that they are a great solution for backup, in the event the host goes down unexpectedly.

    Scalability: VMs allow you to more easily scale your apps by adding more physical or virtual servers to distribute the workload across multiple VMs. As a result you can increase the availability and performance of your apps.

    Security benefits: Because virtual machines run in multiple operating systems, using a guest operating system on a VM allows you to run apps of questionable security and protects your host operating system. VMs also allow for better security forensics, and are often used to safely study computer viruses, isolating the viruses to avoid risking their host computer.

    Also read:What is server virtualisation and why do we use it?

    CPU virtual machine Virtualisation
    Iydia Ding

    Iydia Ding is a intern reporter at BTW Media covering products. She studing at Shanghai International Studies University. Send tips to i.ding@btw.media.

    Related Posts

    ICANN threatens to derecognize AFRINIC after years of silence

    July 22, 2025

    Damac Digital acquires land for AI data centre in Indonesia

    July 22, 2025

    AtlasEdge Launches Stuttgart Data Centre

    July 22, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    CATEGORIES
    Archives
    • July 2025
    • June 2025
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023

    Blue Tech Wave (BTW.Media) is a future-facing tech media brand delivering sharp insights, trendspotting, and bold storytelling across digital, social, and video. We translate complexity into clarity—so you’re always ahead of the curve.

    BTW
    • About BTW
    • Contact Us
    • Join Our Team
    TERMS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Use
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.