Application virtualization: Application virtualization runs application software without installing it directly on the user's OS. This differs from complete desktop virtualization (mentioned above) because only the application runs in a virtual environment---the OS on the end user's device runs as usual. There are three types of application virtualization:

Local application virtualization: The entire application runs on the endpoint device but runs in a runtime environment instead of on the native hardware.

Application streaming: The application lives on a server which sends small components of the software to run on the end user's device when needed.

Server-based application virtualization : The application runs entirely on a server that sends only its user interface to the client device.