Virtualization Development Trends: Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: The development of virtualization tools, which rapidly unfolded in the 1990s, continues to demonstrate a dynamic trajectory. Modern solutions in this area have significantly evolved and diversified. The relevance of the stated issues in the era of Covid-19 has received an even deeper interpretation.Purpose: This review analyzes articles on virtualization published during the pandemic years with the aim of identifying virtualization development trends.Materials and Methods: We conducted a keyword search in the Scopus database. The focus was on articles published in English from December 2019 to December 2022. The authors followed an expanded PRISMA-ScR protocol. The search identified 164 articles, of which 131, based on their title and abstract, were marked as relevant.Results: The selected articles were classified by year of publication, type of publication, country of publication, area of virtualization, mention of Covid-19, and type of virtualization. The articles included in our review indicate that virtualization had already been integrated into all spheres of life before Covid-19. However, the pandemic caused a surge, which accelerated its implementation in various areas, ranging from education and medicine to smart cities and computer technologies.Conclusion: The presented review of the subject area allowed us to identify sectors of public life that significantly influenced virtualization during the Covid19 years, as well as the most actively developing forms of virtualization, in particular, those that allow segregating computational processes and resources. It was recorded that modern solutions in the field of virtualization have significantly diversified compared to previous years and can be classified into separate categories.