REDMOND, Wash., and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 18, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) today announced that Microsoft has joined the SNIA as an associate member. The move signals Microsoft’s commitment to working with the industry to develop innovative, standards-based storage area networks (SANs) and other reliable and scalable storage solutions for data centers, high-end advanced servers and enterprise environments.
SANs are deployed to address issues around the use of traditional LAN infrastructures for storage traffic. A major motivator is the offloading of storage traffic from LAN backup, restoration or replication to a dedicated SAN. SANs enable centralized storage so external storage can be migrated and balanced easily between servers or processes that need additional or temporary resources.
“Microsoft has evidenced strong leadership by working cooperatively with the SNIA and our members to promote efficient, interoperable storage network systems,”
said Robin Glasgow, executive director of the SNIA.
“Formally joining the SNIA is a natural next step in Microsoft’s participation. We welcome the company and applaud its commitment.”
“We want to encourage standardization in the network storage business arena, and our growing relationship with the SNIA is one of the best ways we can do that,”
said Carl Stork, general manager of Hardware Strategy and Evangelism at Microsoft.
“Working with the SNIA and its members in the burgeoning area of SANs is also one of the best ways we can enhance the capabilities of the Windows® operating system for enterprise environments.”
Microsoft also chose to join the SNIA because of its key role as a board member of the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF), which has complementary interests in the area of SAN management strategies. Participating in both groups will enable Microsoft to help the industry develop consistent storage area networking standards. Microsoft has been a voting member of the DMTF since its inception in 1992 and is an active participant in the DMTF’s Web-based enterprise management (WBEM) initiative. The SNIA’s storage management work relies upon WBEM technologies, making Windows, with its WMI-Windows Management Interface implementation of WBEM capabilities, an excellent SAN management platform.
About the SNIA
The SNIA is an international, not-for-profit organization made up of more than 100 companies, plus individuals, who include developers, integrators and IT professionals dedicated to bringing reliable storage solutions to the marketplace. Its mission is to promote the use of highly evolved, widely accepted storage network systems across the IT community. It serves as the central point of contact for the industry, accelerates the development and evolution of standards, promotes the acceptance of those standards among vendors and IT professionals and delivers education and information.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
