Finally, Canada has united voice in data storage!

This morning, I attended the steering committee meeting of Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Canadian Geo-forum. It is a new initiative by US based parent organization, SNIA, to bring together Canadian data storage users, service provider, vendors and IT professionals and to put forward Canadian perspective on data storage industry.

Presently, individuals from several major data storage organizations such as Sun, StorageTek, EMC and Infostream are volunteering their time to lead this initiative to a success. The steering committee has been meeting once a month since last year and has reached to a stage where administrative formalities are near completion. It is time for action!

Steering committee is starting to focus on the expectations of Canadian Data Storage Industry and type of activities it can undertake to meet these expectations in the coming years. Informally, an activity planning team was established today to lead this initiative. The team is soliciting input from various stakeholders in storage industry such as Toronto chapter of Storage Networking User Group (SNUG) and other industry professionals on their expectations and specific activities, this SNIA Canadian Geo-forum should take in the coming years.

As a member of this activity planning team, I would like to hear from you on:

• Your challenges and needs in data storage,


• Your expectations from this storage industry forum, and


• Specific activities that will be of interest to you.

Some potential activities, in my opinion, are Educational Activity, Newsletter, Vendor Demonstration, Interoperability Showcase, User Case Study, Breakfast Lecture Series, Networking Meeting.

Let us know your thoughts and we will work on making them a reality … No promises, but we will give our best effort to deliver something of real value to you!