A Storage Area Network (SAN) offers a robust, high-speed architecture for centralized data storage using Fiber Channel and/or iSCSI protocols.

On the other hand, Network Attached Storage (NAS) enables multiprotocol file sharing over a standard Ethernet network, accommodating both Windows and UNIX datasets.
Internally Virtualized Storage allows for disk pool creation, optimizing performance by granting datasets access to multiple disk spindles and simplifying system administration.
Externally Virtualized Storage seamlessly connects multiple storage systems, enhancing resource aggregation through a resilient architecture.
Network-Based Virtualization extends virtualization into the storage network, facilitating aggregation of components and enabling features like snapshots and replication.
Tiered Storage Architectures dynamically move data to different storage levels based on usage, age, or performance.
Thin Provisioning allows storage managers to allocate logical units without requiring upfront capacity, thus optimizing future storage allocation.
Storage Consolidation centralizes and shares storage resources across various servers and storage platforms, ensuring maximum storage utilization.