VMware Templates
A VMware Template is a master image of a virtual machine that can be used to create and provision virtual machines. A template typically includes a specified operating system and a configuration that provides virtual counterparts to hardware components. It cannot be powered on or edited, and is more difficult to alter than an ordinary virtual machine. Templates offer a more secure way of preserving a virtual machine configuration that you want to deploy multiple times.
Optionally, an administrator can create a standard catalog item on the VMware vSphere cloud that hosts a specific template. When an end user requests the catalog, a VM is provisioned based on the template that is mapped in the catalog. You can provision a VM on a datacenter by using a template available on a different datacenter under the same cloud.