SNIA and HCL Technologies Roll Out Conformance Test Suite for Storage Management Standard

Business Wire, Oct 26, 2004

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Conformance Test Suite developed for SNIA's Storage Management Initiative Specification Version 1.0.2

Leading global IT services provider HCL Technologies today announced that it has completed the development of SMI-S Conformance Test Suite 1.0.2 for the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). As part of its initiatives to promote industry standards, simplify the management of heterogeneous storage networks, and offer enterprises greater interoperability, SNIA rolled out the second phase of its Conformance Test Suite for Storage Management Initiative-Specification (SMI-S) prior to the Storage Networking World, Fall 2004 in Orlando, FL.

SNIA partnered with HCL Technologies to develop the SNIA-Conformance Testing Program (CTP) 1.0 test suite, which covered Server, Array, Fabric, and Switch profiles. SNIA had launched phase 1 of the SMI-S in April 2004.

The current SNIA-CTP 1.0.2 release is another step towards adding greater functionality in SMI-S compliant management products and will facilitate increased adoption by independent software vendors (ISVs), end-users, and internal development teams. This SNIA-CTP release covers two additional profiles, namely, In-band Virtualization and FC HBA, additional tests such as Reference/ Reference Names Check, Property List Check in Associations and enhanced security support for HTTPS and SSL. Remote self-certification feature will enable already certified vendors to achieve SNIA-CTP certification for subsequent releases without the need to ship their equipment to the SNIA Technology Center.

"HCL Technologies' support and responsiveness throughout the project has been excellent. By leveraging HCL Technologies' in-depth knowledge of the specification, we were able to crunch timelines in the development of this conformance test suite," said Ed von Adelung, Chair, Interoperability Committee, SNIA.

"HCL Technologies is proud to be associated with SNIA and its quest to promote open standards. SMI-S is slowly but steadily gaining momentum, and we are currently working with leading storage networking companies to enable them to develop SMI-S-compliant products quickly and in a cost-effective manner," said S. Raman, Chief Operating Officer, HCL Technologies.

HCL Technologies is a dominant engineering services provider in all areas of the Storage Networking domain and working with leading solution providers in end-to-end product engineering, interoperability testing and technical support areas. HCL Technologies participates in industry associations to create and support industry-standard and interoperable solutions aimed at enabling enterprise customers to reduce data center complexity and improve management of storage.

About HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies is one of India's leading global IT services companies providing software-led IT solutions, BPO and infrastructure management services. Founded in 1991, HCL Technologies focuses on technology and R&D outsourcing, working with clients in areas at the core of their business. The company leverages an extensive offshore infrastructure and its global network of 26 offices in 15 countries to deliver solutions across select verticals including Banking, Insurance, Retail, Aerospace, Automotives, Semi-conductors, Telecom and Life Sciences. As of 30th September 2004, HCL Technologies along with its subsidiaries had 18,474 employees. For more information, please visit www.hcltech.com.