eWeek and Nik Simpson, a Storage Analyst for the Burton Group, go through a series of questions and answers about storage virtualization.

Q: What are the main uses of storage virtualization?
A: One of the key things it does obviously is volume management. This function used to be provided by the arrays themselves, but with storage virtualization you can perform it in a centralized way across multiple distinct physical arrays. For example, you can combine disk capacity from several arrays into a single virtual volume. You can do replication from one array to another for disaster recovery or off-line backup. You can migrate data from older arrays that are being retired to newly purchased equipment without interrupting data access for your applications. Virtualization also makes it easier to use whatever type of storage hardware makes sense for your application. If you're doing testing and development with throw-away data, you can store snapshots or copies of production data on cheap SATA (serial ATA) disks rather than expensive Fiber Channel gear.

Read the entire Q&A session, here.