The distinction between Virtualization and Cloud Computing is crucial and necessary for business. For many companies and professionals both are the same. Although Cloud computing uses virtualization, virtualization and cloud computing are not the same thing. They treat IT challenges in various sizes and operated at different scopes with different levels of impact on a business.

Some quick comparisons between virtualization and cloud computing solutions:

Virtualization is technical, Cloud Computing is business
Virtualization is for technical IT, Cloud Computing is for all
Virtualization is not governed, Cloud Computing is governed

Virtualization

Virtualization isolates computing resources, thus offering an opportunity to change and consolidate the isolated resources to better use and greater efficiency.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the ability to make resources available on demand. Cloud computing is “service” and “service” is about the availability and responsiveness to market opportunities that are relevant.

Cloud Computing consists of the following:

Self-Service on Demand : If someone wants to access your cloud resources, they must be available, no matter what that means. The client company must be able to access (and change the access to) resources in the cloud without interacting with anyone.

Extensive Network Access : Above all, the most vital feature of cloud computing is the fact What is network based and accessible from anywhere, from any standardized platform (ie, desktop computers, mobile devices, etc..).

Public Cloud: Various customers may be using the same set of resources, at the same time.

Quick Elasticity : The purpose of sharing resources is to avoid the capital expenditure required for the creation of the network and computing infrastructure. The reason why these costs are so high is because companies must respond to peaks in demand for their services. By outsourcing to a cloud, the demand becomes “damped” by the size of the cloud provider and computing capability. The risk of failures and service interruptions is significantly reduced.

Service Measured : The cloud provider should essentially act as an electric utility, measuring the amount of service provided and reacting accordingly (both in terms of customer billing, and upgrading hardware and software, as appropriate).