A virtualized IT is dependent upon virtualized storage to effectively leverage its full potential. Storing Virtual Machine (VM) files on your SAN completes the abstraction and enables powerful high availability features. At the simplest level taking multiple storage devices and pooling them into one unit is form of virtualization. When implemented in the modern context your administrators can readily create new virtual volumes, dynamically allocate storage space and replicate data across machines and locations. The Creation of Storage Area Networks (SANs), provides the bedrock upon which benefits like server consolidation, increased availability, streaming application delivery and virtualized desktops can be realized.

In the past, you were limited in the types of storage you could include in your SAN. The mixture had to be a homogenous set of devices from a single manufacturer, or perhaps a select few. Full virtualization is now moving towards a the capability to blend heterogeneous, multiple devices from almost any manufacturer. Imagine all your disparate storage managed as one, automatically, dynamically to make full use of all your resources. Imagine the cost savings of consolidating partially filled drives and storage arrays instead of purchasing more storage. Imagine easily moving data from disk to disk, machine to machine, backup to archive according to its application performance needs, usage, age, type without wasting any of your current resources. As divergent server needs grow, adding capacity to your SAN gives you the ability to meet all these needs with one storage upgrade. Just add capacity and allocate it as you see fit.

In many ways virtualization started with RAID systems developed ages ago (by IT standards) to add fault tolerance to stodgy hard drive arrays. Though cloud delivery of mission critical IT services seems a long way from that clumsy monolith, virtualized Storage remains the foundation upon which it is built.