[Carlos Martes]

A virtual environment an a loud environment share similarities, but they are different in key ways. First, a virtual environment runs on a local server or computer where multiple virtual machines share the same physical hardware. A cloud environment, on the other hand, delivers these resources over the internet from remote data centers. Second, virtual environments usually require the organization to buy, manage and maintain its own hardware, while cloud environments reduce that burden by letting third party provider handle infrastructures. Third, scalability differs in which virtual environments have limited capacity based on existing hardware, while cloud environments allow quick scaling up or down on demand making them more flexible and cost efficient. In short, virtualization focuses on creating multiple systems on one machine, while cloud computing delivers shared on demand resources remotely, combining virtualization with network access, storage and managed services.