Network Storage U Takes Enhanced Backup on the Road

The Enhanced Backup Solutions Initiative (EBSI) has teamed with Network Storage University to conduct informational seminars in six states from November through February 2003. The focus of the sessions will be the opportunities provided by today’s disk-based backup platforms. EBSI members Atto, Legato, Network Appliance, and Quantum are sponsoring the NSU Series.

Dean Morash, strategic alliance manger of Quantum’s Storage Solutions Group and membership chairman of EBSI, is giving the keynote. “Participants already know the challenges of backup that perplex them every day: How can they back up everything that they need to in an ever shrinking window of time? How can they quickly access and restore critically needed files? How can they be sure their backup system has archived all of the required data?” said Morash. “These seminars are about finding the best answers to solve those dilemmas in a cost-effective and reliable way.”

The NSU Series comes at a particularly key time for storage professionals, who are witnessing an explosion of new technologies and options at the same time that they are facing the challenge of ballooning storage demands and anemic infrastructure budgets. What they knew before about what works and what is most cost effective is often not the best answer for their enterprise.

“Storage options are changing and one of the biggest clues to where everything is headed is in the language IT professionals are using,” said Michael Peterson, president of Strategic Research Corporation. “It used to be all about backup, archiving and disaster recovery. And the major focus is really on data protection now — how a company can be sure that its data is safe and instantly retrievable.”

The NSU programs are designed to help IT professionals understand the new options and how they fit in with their needs. The free seminars, which include continental breakfast and lunch, run from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. They feature addresses by industry experts, sponsor presentations, exhibits and a question-and-answer session. The schedule is:

• Tuesday, Nov. 19, Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Thursday, Nov. 21, Marriott, Schaumburg, Illinois.
• Thursday, Dec. 5, Hyatt Regency, Dearborn, Michigan.

The second series of EBSI NSU seminars is planned for calendar year 2003: February 4 in Phoenix, Arizona, February 6 in San Francisco, California, and February 11 in San Diego, California.

Interested IT professionals may register at www.NetworkStorageU.com or by calling 1-866-575-8232.