Question : Virtualization, what it is possible and hardware requirements

I would like to make the most of the power of hardware and software like VMware/HyperV for multi purpose appliactions. One important role of the h/w and s/w would be to provide  the ability to install various operating systems both 32 and 64 bit so my business can learn and support various products without having to invest thousands of dollars on multi platforms. Another requirement is  the ability to run Windows 2008 Small Business server full time to run my business as well as a desktop with  say Windows 7.  So I am picturing a reasonably powerful 64 bit workstation (say HP WX505PA) with support for dual display, lots of memeory and disk space. Can I use a VMware product or MS HyperV to do this? Assuming the workstation had a dual network card, can I toggle from server to desktop without having to reboot? I would also like the flexibility of running a dual monitor setup so I can achive icreased productivity. I know there is always going to be limitaions and my request probably sounds like a shopping list but have I exceeded realistic bounadires. Your comments would be apreacited.

Answer : Virtualization, what it is possible and hardware requirements

I use VMWare for running virtual machines, and so far found it really reliable, although am yet to test Hyper-V as solution as well, but as for VMWare, it provides flexibility concerning the specifications to assign to a virtual machine, and like in your case specifying network cards is also possible. Dual monitor will depend on the hardware available rather on the virtual system, as currently my PC has two ports to support 2 monitors on same GPU, thus one is normal VGA and one is HDMI, and I have 2 monitors connected, whereby on one am using my normal desktop, while on the other am running my Virtual machine with Linux in it. Thus in your case, you will run Windows 7 as your main OS with Server 2008 say in a Virtual Machine, or vice-versa, and both can run at the same time, no problems at all concerning the main OS (whatever it is) and your virtual OS.
I think all virtual machines allow users to specify their own memory size, HDD size, and so on, so it is more about the price for buying and maintainance that will be your major concern in the end...
Here are two links which can help you decide:
http://itcomparison.com/Virtualization/MShypervvsvi35/HyperVvsvmware35esx.htm
http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid94_gci1346926,00.html