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Intel's Virtualization technology to your desktop now
Virtualization technology, so far a preserve of high end computers, comes to desktop computers now.
BY OUR TECH CORRESPONDENT
 17th
November, 2005: So far, Intel has offered its Virtualization technology only its high end Xeon processors, usually used in servers.
Read our earlier story on Virtualization technology
here
According to Intel's Chad Taggard, director of technology marketing, virtualization makes it easier to run multiple operating systems or software applications in areas of a chip independent of each other.
Technologies like Virtualization are also a sideways step for Intel, which for long has focused on brute power. ""Instead of going up in gigahertz, we can add capabilities that are favorable to end-users," added Taggard.
Two Intel Pentium 4 VT capable processors will be on offer -- the 672 and the 662. Desktop computers offering the Virtualization technology capable chips will be on offer from Lenovo (Formerly IBM), Acer, Founder and Tongfang. There is no information available as yet on VT capable chips will be on offer from Compaq, Dell etc.
Virtualization Technology is effective when there is a serious malfunction, such as spyware or a virus attack. If the machine is prepared correctly beforehand, the areas of the hard disk as well as the processor used for insecure tasks can be isolated, and what damage happens is limited to that area, and the rest of the computer can remain unaffected.
Another exciting option appears on the Mac platform. Intel or Apple has not said a word about this - but VT makes it possible for several operating systems to run simultaneously on the Intel X86-based Apple Mac computers expected in 2006. That can , in theory, offer consumers the best of both worlds in personal computing. However, Apple is notoriously famous for maintaining its exclusivity, and whether this would happen or not is dependent on the business strategies of Steve Jobs.
BY OUR TECH CORRESPONDENT
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