Editor's note
Over 500 IT directors, managers, systems architects and engineers descended upon Chicago in early September to take part in TechTarget's fifth enterprise storage conference, Storage Decisions 2003.
The 2.5-day event included a mix of both practical and conceptual sessions led by recognized independent experts, authors and analysts in the field of enterprise storage.
The sessions covered multiple tracks designed for different experience levels and interests. Tracks included:
'Rate the vendor' panels for areas including backup vendors, disk vendors and switch vendors
RFP workshops, complete with workbooks
User consolidation case studies for both SAN and NAS installs
Learning Curve workshops, expert workshops and panels
Editors from both of TechTarget's storage media properties, SearchStorage.com and Storage magazine covered the event. A collection of their session reviews and reports appear here, along with links to view each speaker's presentation online.
Speakers covered a lot of ground for attendees -- from tips for negotiating with your vendors (see keynote presentation by Gartner's Nick Allen) to the best place to deploy disk-to-disk staging methods (see "Integrating disk into backup," by W. Curtis Preston). Also covered was the best use of emerging technologies such as iSCSI and 10Gb Ethernet (see "10 GB emergence in the data center," by Marc Staimer).
If you are in need of information from the experts or your peers to help you make better storage decisions, I urge you to take advantage of this rich collection of resources.
Sincerely,
Michele Hope
Senior Site Editor,
SearchStorage.com
P.S. Are there other storage topics you'd like to see us cover in future storage conferences? Let us know. Be sure to also check the Web site to register or learn more about the next Storage Decisions conference.
News round-up from SearchStorage.com
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SD 2003: Microsoft announces file-based storage OS
SD 2003: Gartner storage guru shares storage buying secrets
SD 2003: Vendors seens as feeding off compliance paranoia
SD 2003: Brocade's long-term viability questioned
SD 2003: Corporate DR mandates driving IT priorities for 2004
Keynote address
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Get the most from your storage network
Speaker: Nick Allen, vice president and research director, Gartner Group, Inc.
Session review
Presentation slides
News coverage
Rate the vendor sessions
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Panel: Rate the backup vendors
Session review
Panel: Rate the switch vendors
Session review
News coverage
Panel: Rate the disk vendors
Session review
RFP sessions: How to create storage requests for proposal (RFP)
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Planning for a storage array purchase and developing an RFP
Speaker: Randy Kerns, partner, The Evaluator Group
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: Storage array RFPs and distributed storage
Writing a switch RFP: All we want is everything we can get
Speaker: John Webster, senior analyst and founder, Data Mobility Group, Inc.
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: RFPs for switches
RFPs for storage resource management (SRM) & policy-based management
Speaker: Jamie Gruener, senior analyst, The Yankee Group
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: SRM vendor selection criteria
Creating RFPs for SAN management solutions
Speaker: Marc Farley, independent consultant and author, Building Storage, Inc.
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: SAN management RFPs
Creating RFPs for tape libraries
Speaker: Dianne McAdam, senior analyst and partner, Data Mobility Group
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: Preparing tape-related RFPs
User case studies
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Consolidation strategies that work: Storage area networks (SAN)
Speaker: Norman Owens, storage network engineer and consultant, Carlson Companies
Session review
Consolidation strategies that work: Network-attached storage (NAS)
Speaker: Steve Curry, storage operations manager, Yahoo
Session review
Presentation slides
Other main conference sessions and workshops
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Panel: Storage and the future of the data center
Session review
Designing a backup architecture that actually works
Speaker: W. Curtis Preston, founder and president, The Storage Group
Session review
Presentation slides
Workbook: Designing backup architectures
Integrating disk into backup for faster restores
Speaker: W. Curtis Preston, founder and president, The Storage Group
Session review
Presentation slides
Disk cost busters - How to leverage low-cost disk solutions
Speaker: Ron Lovell, storage practice director, Greenwich Technology Partners
Session review
Presentation slides
Keep data at a distance: Disaster recovery for the 'new realities'
Speaker: Damian Walch, vice president of consulting, T-Systems
Session review
Presentation slides
Aligning storage management tools with operational processes
Speaker: Stephen Foskett, senior consultant, storage management strategies and
integration, Glasshouse Technologies
Session review
Presentation slides
10 GB emergence in the data center
Speaker: Marc Staimer, founder, Dragonslayer Consulting
Session review
Presentation slides
iSCSI - The new storage interconnect on the 'block?'
Speaker: Sean P. Derrington, consultant, enterprise storage and servers, Appergy, Inc.
Session review
Presentation slides
NAS and gateways: Considerations for file storage
Speaker: Randy Kerns, Partner, The Evaluator Group
Session review
Presentation slides
NAS workbook
The pros and cons of content-addressed storage (CAS)
Speaker: Arun Taneja, founder, The Taneja Group
Session review
Presentation slides
From regulation to desperation: A life sciences case study in compliance
Speaker: Richard Scannell, vice president of corporate development and strategy at GlassHouse Technologies, Inc.
Session review
Presentation slides
News coverage
Panel: Regulatory compliance - The effect on information management and the storage industry
Session review
Presentation slides
News coverage
Results from Storage magazine's 2004 purchasing intentions survey
Speaker: Mark Schlack, Editor-in-Chief, Storage magazine
Session review
Presentation slides
SNIA: Providing answers to storage questions
Speaker: Sheila Childs, chairperson, board of directors, Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
Session review
Presentation slides
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