Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting represents the future of web hosting. For many years, full root access has been vital to the successful administration of Linux servers for business and personal sites, however, this necessity was only available with costly dedicated server hosting. The demand for control over server administration with affordable hosting plans was finally met when "virtual dedicated servers" became available.
Platforms like OpenVZ and Xen have revolutionized the hosting industry and created a solid alternative to dedicated servers by allowing a single high-performance server to provide cheap VPS hosting with full root access, a choice of Linux operating systems, and compartmentalized file systems for multiple virtual private servers.