SNIA to Host Backup & Restore Workshop

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) said it plans to host a two-day workshop that will provide IT managers with solutions on how to use storage networks to backup and restore large volumes of data. The workshop will be held Feb. 26-27 at the SNIA Technology Center in Colorado Springs.

The event, titled “Easing Backup Pain: A Backup & Restore Workshop,” is being organized by more than 30 member companies of the association, a non-profit organization that develops industry standards for and education about storage networking technologies.

Highlights of the workshop include a keynote speech by W. Curtis Preston, president of The Storage Group and author of “UNIX Backup & Recovery” and “Using SANs & NAS.” SNIA said Preston will explain the logic behind one of the newest trends in backup and recovery — large, inexpensive disk arrays being used as cache for tape libraries. A second speaker, Todd Pekats, director of consulting of Neartek Inc., will present a case study on how two financial institutions with contrasting backup and restore strategies fared after the September 11th terrorist attacks.

According to SNIA, the workshop will deliver an extensive series of tutorials focused on the business and technical aspects of backup and recovery solutions. Three tutorial tracks will be offered: a business track that will teach participants how to plan, design, implement and manage large-scale backup and restore solutions; a technical track for hands-on implementers of storage networks; and a cross-functional track that combines tutorials from the business and technical tracks. Attendees can also sign up for hour-long consulting sessions with storage professional services consultants.