(Which virtualization approach is best for isolating application environments and ensuring regulatory compliance?

Hardware virtualization is the most effective approach for isolating application environments and ensuring regulatory compliance. AI+ Network documentation explains that hardware virtualization uses hypervisors to create fully isolated virtual machines (VMs), each with its own operating system, resources, and security boundaries.

This strong isolation is critical for meeting regulatory requirements such as data separation, access control, and auditability. Each VM operates independently, preventing one application from affecting another, which reduces risk and improves security posture. Hardware virtualization also supports detailed logging and monitoring, which are essential for compliance audits.

While application virtualization isolates applications to some extent, it does not provide the same level of system-level isolation. Network and storage virtualization focus on infrastructure abstraction rather than application containment. AI+ Network materials consistently identify hardware virtualization as the preferred choice for compliance-driven environments.