Lee Gomes

As the world of retail transforms from physical storefronts to letting people buy anything, anywhere, anytime, IT leaders are turning to virtualized desktops. 

As traditional desktop PCs become less important in the workplace, those same PCs are increasingly useful for virtual desktops. 

"Cash for Clunkers" comes to virtualized desktops, with dealers taking old PCs in exchange for a credit on new VDI components. 

Virtual machines started showing up in banks soon after they were introduced, and today the full range of virtualization products are in use at just about every financial services company.

The market for virtualized desktops is projected to keep growing at a rapid pace over the next five years. 

Virtual machines are designed to provide strong security, but you also have to make sure to keep them from threatening each other. 

A report on virtualized desktops provides fresh perspectives on the potential of VDI to manage security-related issues. 

It's not widely known, but starting with Windows 8, Microsoft provides a built-in hypervisor -- at least in the Professional and Enterprise versions of the product.