SNAI to set up interoperability lab in Bangalore

Bhaskar Hazarika

The Storage Networking Industry Association India (SNIA India) is planning to set up an interoperability lab in Bangalore soon.

SNIA is catalyzing future storage networking technologies and their adoption. The organization has been engaged in forming and sponsoring technical work groups, committees besides promoting activities that expand the quality of the storage networking market. In an exclusive chat with Bhaskar Hazarika of CyberMedia News, P.K. Gupta, chairman, SNIA India, highlighted its plans to strengthen its reach in smaller cities and to set up an interoperability lab in Bangalore.

What is your current membership status in India? What are your plans to increase the membership strength?

Currently we have a membership of around 80 members. We are trying to increase it to more than 100 this year. We have recently launched in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune. We have started our operations in India in May 2004 and till now we have been able to achieve the membership growth to a greater extent.

Are you planning to expand your reach in the smaller cities of the country?

We are planning to expand our reach in the smaller cities with the help of channel partners who has the maximum reach. Our prime objective is to reach more and more locations.

Do you have any plans to set up a R&D centre in India?

We are planning to set up an interoperability lab in Bangalore soon. We are in the process and will come up with an announcement soon. The blue print for setting up the lab has already been prepared and we will announce it soon. However, I cannot give the exact dates for the launch.

The SNIA Technology Center, located in Colorado Springs, CO, which hosts programs that accelerate the development and introduction of advanced network storage technologies and solutions. The center supports SNIA members to work collaboratively in developing technologies, standards, and tests that enable more efficient, complete, and trusted networked storage infrastructures.

SNIA has recently introduced an internationally recognized SMI-S (CIM/WBEM) course in India. What is the response to it?

We have launched five courses in India aimed at software developers, architects, testers and managers who desire to understand the advanced concepts required for developing commercial quality Java Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) applications and instrumentation for Storage Management Initiative (SMI) products.

Till date we have trained more than 250 candidates on storage certification.

What are the benefits from these courses? Are all the courses available in India?

The SNIA Education offers curricula and courses for the end-user, integrator and vendor communities at the Technology Center as well as other locations. The offerings are vendor-neutral and help students develop and deploy more effective storage solutions through better understanding of storage practices, technologies, and standards. Some courses are taught at the SNIA Technology Center in Colorado Springs, and include extensive hands-on lab access to the Technology Center hardware and software infrastructure.

For end-users, courses provide the knowledge and hands-on experience to help you make smarter storage investments, get the most out of your existing storage infrastructures, and save you time and money by avoiding blind alleys and other pitfalls.

Do you have any plans to make your courses more popular among the IT community?

We are planning to participate in storage events, which will help us to make these courses more popular. We have also decided to hold some road shows in some of the locations. We had recently organized a road show in Hyderabad.

We are holding the 'Vertical Technology Forum' in April 2006 for educating end users. The forum would concentrate on healthcare, finance, telecom and the whole of IT community.