Also there are many x86 and other systems where people use VMWare or something like that for "server consolidation" without going all the way out to the cloud.
The difference today though is that the guest operating system today is a "full-service" operating system such as Linux or Windows. In many of these cases the partitioning of the service could be accomplished through user id's, processes, sessions, containers, and similar facilities offered by the guest OS.
Also there are many x86 and other systems where people use VMWare or something like that for "server consolidation" without going all the way out to the cloud.
The difference today though is that the guest operating system today is a "full-service" operating system such as Linux or Windows. In many of these cases the partitioning of the service could be accomplished through user id's, processes, sessions, containers, and similar facilities offered by the guest OS.