Vendor-neutral storage networking certification from SNIA
By Alan Earls
Late last month, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) announced that, in conjunction with Infinity I/ O, it will launch a Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (FC-SAN) certification program in late October in the U. S. and Europe to test IT professionals' expertise in Fibre Channel-based SANs. The SNIA FC-SAN Certification Program is the first module of the SNIA Storage Networking Certification Program (SNIA SNCP), which will include modules on other storage networking topics.
"The ultimate goal of the SNIA SNCP is to provide uniform standards by which the knowledge and abilities of people working with storage networks of all kinds can be judged," says Paul Massiglia, chairperson of the SNIA Education Committee, which is overseeing the SNIA's certification activities. "We have begun with Fibre Channel because that's where the action is among the user community today."
Infinity I/ O, a provider of training and education for individuals employed in various technological fields, initiated the creation and development of the FC-SAN Certification Program in response to the rapid growth of the storage networking marketplace and a strong, worldwide industry demand for a single uniform standard to measure individual knowledge of system-level, heterogeneous, open-system network technologies.
Max Shu, marketing manager at SNIA, says the program has been under development
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for about a year. "We are not trying to compete with vendor-specific certification programs," says Shu. "In fact, we are looking at ways to integrate our program with vendor-specific ones."
Shu says SNIA is not aware of any vendor-neutral certification programs in these disciplines. "If such third-party certifications do appear on the scene, we will do our best to work with the organization to develop consistent positioning for the consumer," she says.
For information on the SNIA certification programs, contact the SNIA by telephone at 650- 949- 6720, via e-mail at executivedirector@snia.org, or visit the SNIA Web site.
About the author: Alan Earls is a freelance writer residing in Franklin, Mass.
This was first published in September 2001