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Given the constantly growing volume of digital information, organizations need to find efficient, cost-effective ways to store data. One possible solution is storage virtualization.

With virtualization, organizations can create a large “pool” of storage, allowing multiple physical storage networks or devices to be treated as one big repository of data that’s managed from a central point. By deploying storage virtualization, enterprises and smaller businesses alike can consolidate storage resources, saving energy and maintenance costs, as well as data center space.

Storage virtualization often involves storage area networks (SANs), high-speed networks comprised of interconnected devices such as servers and disk storage subsystems. The storage subsystems are typically available to many devices at the same time. SANs can provide a storage pool that’s accessible to multiple servers, so they’re suitable for virtualization.

Virtualization makes it easier for organizations to quickly allocate storage capacity and provides a scalable storage infrastructure because physical storage systems can readily be added to the pool as demand requires. Virtualization also has storage-allocation benefits: Capacity is available and used as needed, leading to a more efficient and less costly use of storage. In addition, virtualization can help storage administrators more easily perform tasks such as archiving, data backup and recovery.

The benefits of virtualization vary depending on whether an organization is using block or file virtualization, says Richard Villars, vice president, storage systems research at IDC . “ A common benefit cited by companies for both solutions is a significant reduction in the cost and time required to add new storage capacity and migrate data off older storage systems,” Villars says. “In the case of file servers, we've spoken with companies that have reduced the time and effort needed to complete file server consolidation projects by 80 percent.”

For block-level virtualization, Villars says, the other most-frequently mentioned advantages are boosting utilization rates for SAN-based storage and allowing organizations to more effectively exploit the benefits of server virtualization technology. For file-level virtualization, he says, the other main advantage is the ability to transparently and automatically move data to new storage tiers, reducing the storage cost and time required to back up old and infrequently accessed data.

Along with the benefits of virtualization come potential risks. “The major worries and challenges today relate to continued concerns about interoperability and support for the storage systems being virtualized if they are from a different vendor,” Villars says.

Another major challenge involves data ownership, Villars says. “We all talk about storage consolidation, but when you dig into many companies’ data centers, you still find many islands of capacity and an unwillingness to move to a common pool,” he says. “Yet recent successes by companies that used server virtualization to overcome similar ownership issues on the server side appear to be changing attitudes here.”

IDC in a report earlier this year said storage virtualization “has come of age. It's no longer a nascent market with limited user deployments and immature technology.” According to the firm, organizations around the world spent $315 million on network-based, block-level storage virtualization in 2006. IDC expects spending on these products to almost double in 2007, to $620 million.

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