Skytap offers a complete virtual lab solution as a cloud-based service over the Web. Because it’s a service, it enables organizations to gain immediate value from a fully-featured lab manager application and access on-demand cloud infrastructure for application development and test, IT ops testing, virtual learning or software demo labs. It can be used as an extension of existing on-site infrastructure or replace it entirely.

The Skytap service can be accessed from any location using only a Web browser. Skytap Virtual Lab includes three major components:

- Virtualized cloud infrastructure, including hardware, storage and networking resources;
- A 'Software-as-a-Service' lab manager application;
- The Skytap Library.

Skytap’s pool of hosted cloud infrastructure allows organizations to scale up and down computing resources as they need them. Virtual machine configurations can be deployed into a virtual lab with just the click of a button and easily shared to enable distributed team members to collaborate in the same virtual environment.

Using Skytap, organizations can run their applications and virtual machines unchanged in the cloud on industry-leading VMware infrastructure. Skytap supports all operating systems that run on VMware, including Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Linux variants.

Skytap includes a complete lab manager application that enables IT users to configure environments, upload software assets, set up and tear down lab environments, and manage projects. Users that only require access to certain virtual machines, such as sales professionals and students, access Skytap through a simplified Web-based console.

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