ORLANDO, FL--(Marketwire - April 12, 2010) - The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) announced today the first vendors passing the Conformance Testing Program (SNIA-CTP) provider suite for the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) version 1.4. This version of the test suite introduces test results, reporting enhancements and expanded storage functionality tests. The SNIA-CTP for SMI-S 1.4 also expands functionality tests to cover thin provisioning, remote copy services, host Redundant Array of independent Disk (RAID) controllers, virtual fabrics and partitioned fabric switches.
"This version of SNIA-CTP includes enhancements driven by our customers," said Don Deel, chair of the Storage Management Initiative. "The SNIA-CTP reports now describe the tested functionality in terms of end-user goals, to help end-users determine whether the tested products provide the functionality they are looking for. SNIA-CTP also now allows vendors to select one of three levels of testing, depending upon the capabilities of their equipment. One of these levels introduces the comprehensive testing of event reporting, which is a capability that allows Storage Resource Management applications to gracefully scale up to large, enterprise configurations."
The first vendors to demonstrate their commitment to management interoperability by passing the SNIA-CTP provider suite for SMI-S version 1.4 include Brocade, EMC Corporation, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, and Hitachi, Ltd. A list of vendors with conforming products is published on the SNIA-CTP webpage.
In addition to new conformance tests, the SNIA has launched a new series of SMI-S plugfests that will be hosted at the SNIA Technology Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. These plugfests allow the industry to actively work together to improve SMI-S technology with actual hardware and management software experience. SMI-S plugfests in 2010 are scheduled for May 24-28, August 16-20, and October 25-29.
INDUSTRY SUPPORT FOR THE SNIA-CTP FOR SMI-S 1.4
Doug Ingraham, VP Data Center Infrastructure Product Management, Brocade, said, "Brocade is leading the way in transforming the networking infrastructure required to enable a true cloud experience for customers. Active management of devices plays a pivotal role in simplifying this inherently heterogeneous environment and supporting the move towards virtualization of mission critical applications. Brocade is proud to continue its commitment to providing solutions that conform to the SMI Specification through the Conformance Testing Program to help ensure multi-vendor interoperability, increased reliability, security and manageability for customers."
Barbara Robidoux, EMC Vice President of Storage Marketing, said, "As customers continue their journey to private cloud computing models, industry standards are playing an even more important role in ensuring interoperability of the various elements of a virtualized infrastructure. As one of the leaders of SNIA, EMC has been committed to and conformant with SMI since the first version shipped in 2004 and over the years has made significant investments in ensuring that our leading storage platforms have successfully completed testing with the latest versions."
Paul Perez, vice president and chief technologist, StorageWorks, HP, added, "Organizations need to protect their data center investments with simpler management and integration of storage environments. The certification of HP storage technologies with SNIA-CTP for SMI-S 1.4 provides businesses with interoperable solutions that reduce the complexity and cost associated with managing a heterogeneous infrastructure."
Hu Yoshida, vice president and CTO, Hitachi Data Systems, added, "Understanding the importance of these interoperability tests for our customers, both Hitachi and Hitachi Data Systems have successfully passed the SMI-S version 1.4 test with three generations of enterprise and midrange storage systems running Hitachi Device Manager 6.3. In addition to testing Hitachi systems from the 9900 V to the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V, and the Hitachi 9500 series to Adaptable Modular Storage 2000 family on the event reporting level, we've also passed thin provisioning testing within systems supported by Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning."
About the Storage Management Initiative (SMI)
The SNIA Storage Management Initiative (SMI) is dedicated to fostering the creation of a highly functional and interoperable management interface for multi-vendor storage networking products and driving it to broad adoption. The Initiative is expanding the overall market for storage networking technology by enabling and streamlining the integration of large and diverse multi-vendor storage networking products. For information, visit http://www.snia.org/forums/smi/. End users looking to ensure that a vendor's SMI-S implementation conforms to SNIA standards should look for the official SNIA-CTP mark on tested products or visit http://www.snia.org/forums/smi/tech_programs/ctp/ for specific details.
The members of SMI and SMI-Lab include 3PAR, BMC Software, Brocade, Cisco, Compellent, EMC, Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, LSI Corporation, NetApp, Pillar Data Systems, PMC-Sierra, Quest Software, Symantec and Solarwinds. Validation of the SNIA-CTP tests is an iterative process between the engineering team enhancing the test suite and the engineers who implement SMI-S features in their products and solutions. Contributor companies to the SNIA-CTP 1.4 validation process include Brocade, EMC, Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Data Systems, Olocity, and PMC-Sierra.
About the SNIA
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit global organization, made up of some 400 member companies and 7,000 individuals spanning virtually the entire storage industry. SNIA's mission is to lead the storage industry worldwide in developing and promoting standards, technologies, and educational services to empower organizations in the management of information. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education, and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For additional information, visit the SNIA web site at www.snia.org.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Dan La Russo
Ogilvy Public Relations for the SNIA
Phone: (303) 634-2632
Cell: (720) 840-8254