SNIA Technical Council - Storage Networking Industry Association - Industry Trend or Event

Computer Technology Review, Sept, 1999 by Brad Stamas

In mid-1999, to accelerate the development, evolution, and acceptance of multi-vendor storage network standards, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) formed the Technical Council to guide and oversee SNIA technical efforts and standards development. The Council consists of a team of the finest experts in the industry acting as architectural, as well as technical advisory body to the SNIA. They report to the SNIA board of directors through their chairman and work closely with and in support of the SNIA working groups, the SNIA chief technology officer, and the technical programs director. The Council's mission is to support the SNIA in pursuing coordinated and focused technical work efforts.

The Council is chartered to address those technical issues that are beneficial to vendors, resellers, and end-users of the storage networking industry at large. The Council will define the scope of SNIA technical activities, create and maintain a roadmap, and provide the high-level architectures guiding its technical development. The Council will also recommend the scope of SNIA technical bodies (work areas and Work Groups) in order to prioritize and focus technical work efforts within the SNIA. They will monitor other standardization and outside technical efforts to prevent unnecessary duplication within the SNIA. They will recommend and prioritize the areas where the SNIA will be most effective in defining the needs for standards and interoperability.

The Council operates as a committee of the SNIA that meets, generally, on a monthly basis. At these meetings, in addition to addressing roadmap and architecture activities, the Council will accept and consider technical proposals submitted by SNIA members. Proposals will range from requests to validate the charter of a new working group to the review of submitted specifications for inclusion into the SNIA body of work or standards. Often, the Council will be expected to establish a recommendation on a proposal and forward this to the board of directors, chief technical officer, or voting membership for action. In developing its positions or recommendations, the Council will also make use of expert sub-groups and invited 'experts.' This will allow input from other SNIA member individuals and outside subject matter experts.

Proposals and actions currently in front of the Technical Council include:

* Review of interfaces and architectures and would enable support of a multi-vendor Trusted Shared Storage Environment

* Request to develop a position and a methods to resolve security issues related to storage networking

* Request to define and promote a working group to address issues relating to multiple methods and approaches to resource discovery in storage networks

The Council is comprised of both member-selected and Board-appointed experts to ensure member representation and to keep the TC connected with all parts of the association. Council members are individuals with significant experience in creating systems architectures for storage, storage management, or storage network systems. They are each knowledgeable of current technical issues in SAN and NAS systems, and understand end user requirements for storage networking. There are key individuals from leading system, storage, storage interconnect, and storage management companies on the Council. As a group, expertise in all aspects of storage networking is equally represented.

Brad Stamas is the chairman of the SNIA Technical Council (Mountain View, CA).