Infinity I/O, the company responsible for developing the Storage Networking Industry Association FC-SAN certification program, yesterday announced the October availability of the Fibre Channel SAN Certified Specialist (Level 3) examination. The exam will be available at Prometric test centers worldwide by mid-October, 2002.
“The FC-SAN Specialist Certification is a significant step in formalizing standards that are speeding the adoption of Fibre Channel SAN,” says Deborah Johnson, president and CEO of Infinity I/O. “This Level 3 certification is aimed at consultants and engineers working in areas such as systems architecture and product design, and will validate a more in-depth knowledge of system components and solutions.”
SNIA’s Fibre Channel SAN certification program, developed by Infinity I/O, also consists of the FC-SAN Professional Certification (Level 1), which confirms knowledge of basic principles and terminology for those with limited technical needs; and the FC-SAN Practitioner Certification (Level 2), which tests for understanding of features, functions and technologies underlying FC-SAN, for professionals working in sales and technical support.
The Fibre Channel SAN Certified Specialist Program was also developed in collaboration with SNIA member storage networking vendors. They provided support from job task analysis to actual writing of examination questions.
“McDATA has listened to our customers who continuously ask for ways to measure the skills necessary to design, implement, manage and troubleshoot today’s storage networking solutions,” says Adolph Holston, Senior Consultant for McDATA Corporation. “Our enthusiastic involvement in this Specialist exam is one way we support SNIA’s and Infinity I/O’s efforts in creating and promoting a successful industry-wide, vendor-neutral certification program. We will leverage this testing as an entry point into McDATA’s own certification program.”
In related news, Infinity I/O has debuted its first online course – the 100e Fibre Channel SAN Foundation course.
The self-paced Web course, developed in collaboration with the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) of The Pennsylvania State University, is being demonstrated at the SAN East 2002 Expo at Infinity I/O’s booth #1010. A free online demonstration of 100e is also available at: http://san.ist.psu.edu ..
“Training that helps marketing, sales and other non-technical personnel understand the basics of FC-SAN is critical in today’s business environment,” says Deborah Johnson, president and CEO of Infinity I/O. “By offering our foundation course online, we make this important vendor-neutral training readily available to a wider range of customers.”
Infinity I/O’s 100e Fibre Channel SAN Foundation course is intended for individuals preparing for the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Fibre Channel SAN Professional Certification (Level 1), which confirms knowledge of basic principles and terminology for those with limited technical needs.
“In today’s economy, we see a growing need for courses like Infinity I/O’s vendor independent, online fundamentals, and instructor-led business track courses,” says Steve Kenniston, analyst with Enterprise Storage Group based in San Jose, CA. “These courses help IT managers gain a better understanding of how SANs can deliver a significant ROI.”
Upcoming Infinity I/O e-learning courses will include Fibre Channel SAN Technology
(INF-200), an introduction to Fibre Channel SAN and SAN management technologies from a vendor-neutral perspective, offered in preparation for the SNIA FC-SAN Practitioner (Level 2) certification.