An organization is looking to optimize its environment and reduce the number of patches necessary for operating systems. Which of the following will best help to achieve this objective?

Containers, like Docker or Kubernetes, encapsulate an application and its dependencies into a single, portable unit. This means the container includes only the necessary libraries and binaries for the application to run, rather than a full operating system. This significantly reduces the attack surface compared to traditional VMs or physical servers, leading to fewer OS-level patches required. Microservices are an architectural style where applications are built as a collection of small, independent services, but they don't inherently reduce OS patching requirements. Virtualization (e.g., VMs) still involves a full guest operating system for each virtual machine, which requires regular patching. Real-time operating systems (RTOS) are designed for time-critical operations and do not primarily address the issue of reducing OS patches.