Organizations and Conferences

The computer industry has so many conferences and organizations that it is hard to choose which ones to be involved in. The premier organization in the storage industry is the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). SNIA brings together the vendor community with IT professionals to tackle important problems related to storage. Along with media partner ComputerWorld, SNIA runs a series of conferences under the moniker Storage Networking World. Versions of the conference are held throughout the world and are quite worthwhile. More information on SNIA is available at www.snia.org.

For more focused information on SCSI or Fibre Channel, there are the SCSI Trade Association (www.scsita.org) and the Fibre Channel Industry Association (www.fibrechannel.org). These organizations provide a forum in which vendors work out issues of compatibility and interoperability, as well as map out the future direction of these technologies.

Some other organizations that are worth considering are

• ILM Summit (www.ilmsummit.com). The ILM Summit is a conference that is devoted specifically to ILM.

• Association of Storage Networking Professionals (ASNP;www.asnp.org). This organization is comprised of IT professionals who are involved in storage networking. Regional chapters meet to further the education of storage networking professionals, as well as to provide networking opportunities.

• Storage Networking User Groups (SNUG; www.storagenetworking.org). SNUG is similar to ASNP. The goals of SNUG are education and professional networking. It has a series of chapters in major metropolitan areas. Chapters have formed in cities throughout the world, though most are in the United States.

User groups such as ASNP and SNUG allow IT professionals to learn from one another. They tackle real-life problems in a vendor-neutral environment.