Virtual data storage is gaining popularity as an increasingly popular choice for companies looking to reduce IT costs. These solutions can save lot of money because they don't require the hardware redundancy that is typically required in traditional enterprise storage systems to ensure disaster recovery.

Virtual data storage allows IT to pool physical storage devices, such as SANs, into a single device, or virtual storage array. There are a variety of ways to utilize this technology such as network-based storage virtualization (which brings together all of the storage devices within an FC or iSCSI storage area into a single pool, which is managed by a central management console) and host-based virtualization. Host-based virtualization is most commonly used in HCI systems as well as cloud storage.

In order to work, virtual storage must be compatible with underlying hardware infrastructure virtula data management including networking components, servers and other servers, along with the most common management tools and hypervisors. It must also support data encryption, granular access and authentication controls, as well as robust backup and disaster recovery capabilities.

Virtual storage must also be able address concerns about performance and latency. This includes ensuring critical applications are able to run without compromising performance or causing latency to retrieval of data. This involves evaluating storage controllers, bandwidth for networks, and disk I/O capacities as well as setting up cache mechanisms. It also requires installing advanced storage features, such as replication, tiering, and virtualization at the virtualization layer.