Virtualized storage, real rewards - Computerworld:

With costs escalating, Wood needed a way to slow deployment of new storage hardware and make better use of the disparate hardware he already had. The technology he chose was storage virtualization.

Personally, at my day job, we're still at the stage of consolidating all our DAS (Direct Attached Storage, for those just joining us) into a couple of SANs - the thought of having quite that much storage needed, and having to virtualize it to get the best use out of it - that's just spooky.

The linked article goes into some detail on the subject of Storage Virtualization (don't forget to read past the first page - there's lots of good info on the others - I hate when websites do that), and seems to have a good overview of the main products on the market today. Anyone out there know any they missed?

Virtualization seems to be the subject of the moment - I've come across a few articles on the subject of late:

Approaching storage-virtualization products

What isn't storage virtualization?

Storage Virtualization and iSCSI don't mix

It might be something you're planning right now, it might be something you can see in the distance, or you might not have even come close to thinking about it (like me). No matter which camp you fall into, it's worth having a think about right now.