Vendors unite to step up adoption of SMI-S
Channel welcomes move to create a level playing field with the SNIA's industry standard
Hewlett-Packard (HP), Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), Sun, EMC and Symantec have joined forces to speed up the adoption of the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA’s) Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) industry standard.
Until now, SMI-S has focused primarily on the testing of heterogeneous storage devices to assist with standards-based storage interoperability.
However, the five vendors have claimed their collaboration will help satisfy end-user demand for SMI-S to define more advanced management functions, such as topology, navigation and policy management.
Wayne Adams, chairman of the SNIA board of directors, said: “SMI-S has been very successful in providing a standard way to discover, model and provide storage devices.”
The SMI-S standard will provide independent hardware and software vendors, service providers and system integrators with a common, standards-built platform for faster and more cost-effective development of high-value storage management services.
“The commitment from these SNIA members will propel SMI-S to meet the needs of ILM [Information Lifecycle Management], data protection, grid computing and interoperable storage management applications,” Adams added.
Ash Ashutosh, vice-president of HP’s StorageWorks division, said: “Standards such as SMI-S create a level playing field, where vendors compete on innovation and value.”
Adam Mendoza, director of storage industry initiatives at Sun, said: “Building on existing industry standards such as SMI-S is the most logical path for resellers to help customers solve their storage management challenges.”