* Storage Networking World and NAS Industry Conference open their doors
Once again, it is time for the fall version of the Storage Networking Industry Association’s Storage Networking World conference. This conference runs both spring and fall, but Fall SNW has historically been the big one.
Here is what’s going on in Orlando on Oct. 24-27:
First, of course, are the SNIA-sponsored tutorials. There seem to be many more of them this time around than in the past, but what is likely to be most interesting is the increasing focus of many of them on information lifecycle management (ILM) and storage security. ILM topics such as data classification, automation and storage tiers, and a number of security tutorials join the always-predictable lot of vendor posturing and storage resource management (SRM)-related presentations that are the SNIA’s traditional metier. There also look to be some useful sessions on data protection and other nitty-gritty topics.
For those who have been following the SNIA’s prescribed storage-area network (SAN) certification courses, there are many opportunities to take the certification exams and get a snazzy certificate with which you can wow friends, bosses and significant others when you get back home. And of course, interoperability will be available both during the interoperability showcase, and at the many watering holes that always seem to appear at these meetings.
I’ll be at this one. Stop by and say hi if you see me – I’ll be the bearded, frazzled-looking guy often lurking near the press room. Or at the bar. If you are a vendor or an IT manager and you’d like to set up a meeting with me, send me an e-mail (see the contact info below).
Much of the time at SNW is focused on SANs, but SANs aren’t the only form of networked storage, of course. We also have network-attached storage and this year’s NAS Industry Conference is being held in Santa Clara on Oct. 18-20 at the Hilton. Just about everything NAS-related (NAS-ish? NASty? Nah.) will be on display in the exhibit hall, but make sure to leave some time for the presentations, tutorials and panel sessions.
The NAS Industry Conference is sponsored by EMC, HP, Hummingbird, Network Appliance and Sun. Go to the conference Web site and review the agenda to see if this is going to be of interest to you. The agenda indicates a preponderance of NFS-related topics (no surprise there), but also shows that, at last, the vendors are stepping up to address storage security issues.
