Introduction

We live in an exciting time. The information age is exploding around us, giving us access to dizzying amounts of information at the instant it is available. Smart phones and tablets provide an untethered experience streaming video, audio, and other media formats to just about any place on the planet. Even people who are not “computer literate” use Facebook to catch up with friends and family, use Google to research a new restaurant choice and print directions to get there, or Tweet their reactions once they have sampled the fare. The infrastructure supporting these services is also growing exponentially, and the technology that facilitates this rapid growth is virtualization.

On one hand, virtualization is nothing more than an increasingly ...

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