The advent of hyperconvergence and software-defined storage technologies makes virtual data storage an attractive option for enterprises looking to reduce their IT costs. In reality, since these solutions don’t require hardware redundancies that are typically required in traditional enterprise storage systems for disaster recovery, they’re able to reduce upfront costs and ongoing operating expenses by substantial amounts.

Virtual data storage enables IT to pool physical data storage devices, such as SANs, into an individual device, or virtual storage array. There are a variety of methods to implement the technology using host-based virtualization, for example network-based storage (which is a way to combine storage devices from an FC or iSCSI storage device into one pool controlled by a central management console). Host-based Virtualization is typically used in HCI Systems and Cloud Storage.

Virtual storage must be compatible not just with the underlying hardware infrastructure but also with the hypervisors, servers, and networking components. It should also support encryption of data as well as granular access and authentication controls, and robust backup and disaster recovery capabilities.

Virtual storage should also be able address issues with latency and performance. This means that crucial applications are able to run without impairing performance or adding to the speed of data retrieval. This requires evaluating the performance of storage controllers, network bandwidth, and disk I/O capacities as well as the deployment of cache mechanisms. It also requires more info here implementing advanced storage features like replication, tiering and virtualization at the virtualization layer.