Datacenter Technology Academy Programs 2012

This was the official website for the 2012 Datacenter Technologies Academy programme  presented by SNIA Europe.

Content is from the site's 2012 archived pages.

The leading industry association SNIA Europe is pleased to invite you to its popular Academy in London. Now in its 5th year in London, the Datacenter Technologies Academy programme (formerly the SNIA Europe Academy) features a mix of vendor-neutral, educational sessions led by members of the association supported by relevant sessions from leading vendors, meaning that attendees will find it hard to make better use of their valuable time.

The Datacenter Technologies Academy in London will deliver a series of educational presentations covering the following topics:

  • Data protection trends and solutions
  • Storage management best practices
  • Desktop, Server and Storage Virtualization
  • Converged datacenter networking
  • Public and private cloud services
  • Tiered storage architectures

Delegates will also get ample time to network with one another and the participating sponsors.   

The three main cornerstones of any IT environment

  • Where an organisation stores and protects its information
  • How it is moved
  • How/where it is processed

These are also the main elements that will be featured in the 2012 Datacenter Technologies Academy, delivered in association with the influential industry association SNIA Europe and many of the leading suppliers in the market today.  The Datacenter Technologies Academy will feature a full day of educational and thought provoking  presentations examining everything from data archiving, backup and recovery; through desktop, server and storage virtualization, to converged datacenter networking and both public and private cloud services.  Delegates will also get ample time to network with one another and the participating sponsors.

“Datacenter Technology Academy Program is one of the significant IT events in the field of Datacenter trends and technologies. The program is offering a range of technical and business sessions that direct a spot of light on new technologies, new challenges and new opportunities. Attending Datacenter Technology Academy Program is a valuable action that I am keen to do. The program is adding a real value to my knowledge and ability to review Datacenter technologies and trends and sequentially decision making on my future plans and objectives." Saeed Darwish, Project Manager, Injazat Data Systems.

Be sure to register early to guarantee your place at a location near you.

Datacenter Academy, London, 23rd May 2012

Agenda

 

The Business of Data Centres in 2012.

Presented by Steve O'Donnell, Consultant, Advisor a Presented by Steve O'Donnell, Consultant, Advisor and Analyst Consultant, Advisor and Analyst nd Analyst

2012 is likely to be a very significant turning point in the data centre business with many changes to the IT landscape converging on the raised floor. There have never been so many challenges to the large incumbents at the same time. Big Data challenges Oracle's Database market, as customers recognise that non-relational approaches to data management are viable for many use cases and open source products start to make a showing with Greenplum and Hadoop lined up against Oracle's Big Data Appliance with Cloudera's Cassandra. SAP has at last woken up and is making significant challenges in the Enterprise Application space with real-time analytics and HANA, again challenging Oracle. Flash storage vendors are gaining traction with a number of innovations and technologies intersecting to make the prediction of storage migration to flash and trash an immanent reality. There has been significant action in the capital markets with the acquisition of XtremeIO, a vendor with no shipments for $430m, $2.4b market cap on Fusion-io and a likely stellar IPO from Violin Memory. The incumbents have got their work cut out maintaining market share as this plays out.

In the data centre itself, we have seen the launch of the Data Centre Maturity Model, a roadmap and best practice framework detailing how to drive efficiency and reliability delivered out of the UK via the Green Grid.

 

European Data Protection Legislation.

Presented by Ann LaFrance, Presented by Ann LaFrance, LaFrance, Partner and Co Partner and Co Partner and Co-Chair, Global Data Protection and Chair, Global Data Protection and Privacy Group, Squire Sanders (UK) LLP Privacy Group, Squire Sanders (UK) LLP

Ann managed one of the largest cleaning supplies businesses on the continent for over a decade. She prides herself in achieving record sales for trash bags while her competitors were losing market share. How does data help sell dish soap or trash can bags? Simple. The vendor with the most robust information sources will almost always win the competition for consumers if that data is applied appropriately to identify and then attract those customers most likely to be interested in, say, trash bags. By discovering ways to mine existing customer data, associate behavior with marketing opportunities, your toilet paper supplies business can literally "clean up" while those without such insight fall away - down the drain, as it were. And if your mops and brooms are sold internationally, then all of the language, cultural and monetary concerns can be better managed by bringing data into the picture to clarify, identify, and improve your business intelligence.

A number of legal, regulatory, commercial and IT security issues are converging to challenge the global Cloud Computing model.

These include:

  • Data protection and privacy concerns resulting in limits on transborder data flows (in
  • particular, the EU data protection rules);
  • Law enforcement access and litigation/discovery risks (including the long-arm reach
  • of the US Patriot Act);
  • State-sponsored hacking; and
  • Business models that depend on data mining of web searches and stored content.

This presentation will consider how applicable laws, regulations, government and commercial practices are affecting the "globality" of the Cloud Computing business, and expected legislative and regulatory developments in key markets.

SNIA Presentations SNIA Presentations

 Please note: These presentations are developed and validated by the SNIA Europe and are designed to represent a balanced, vendor-independent view of a particular technology or standard.

 

Building the Business Case for Cloud.

Presented by Alex McDonald, Presented by Alex McDonald, SNIA Europe UK Committee SNIA Europe UK Committee andOffice of the Office of the CTO, NetApp

The fast emerging cloud services business arena is creating numerous new opportunities for both IT users and IT players beyond the traditional Enterprise IT ecosystem. In response, SNIA’s Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) has created the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI). Designed to enable interoperable cloud storage and data management, the CDMI specification is addressing a total cloud storage solution, helping users avoid the chaos of proprietary advances and partial solution APIs that would erode the integrity of the cloud model.

This presentation will cover popular use cases for cloud including storage clouds and enterprise or application-specific clouds. Multi-tenancy, private, and hybrid clouds are of interest to IT professionals, and this tutorial explores various cloud options and scenarios, along with options and recommendations for building your business case.

 

Data Centre Data CentreTrends for Storage.

Presented by Presented byGlyn Bowden, Glyn Bowden, Glyn Bowden,SNIA Europe UK Committee and SNIA Europe UK Committee and SNIA Europe UK Committee and Enterprise Enterprise Infrastructure Architect, Infrastructure Architect,NetApp

This session will focus on the following questions: What are the driving forces in data management and data protection that require changes in today’s storage landscapes? Which technologies can help?

This presentation covers some key drivers and technologies that should be on the radar screen for future planning.

 

The Effective Use of Solid State Storage in the Enterprise.

Presented by Alex McDonald, Presented by Alex McDonald,SNIA Europe UK Committee SNIA Europe UK Committee SNIA Europe UK Committee and Office of the Office of theCTO, NetApp

Targeted primarily at an IT audience, this presentation - an update to a popular SNIA tutorial - presents a brief overview of the component-level discontinuities presented by solid state technologies which are being integrated into Enterprise Storage Systems today. It then considers the architectural implications of using these technologies, including benefits and price/performance. It then goes on to describe where they fit into typical Enterprise Storage architectures today, with descriptions of specific use cases. Finally, the presentation speculates briefly on what the future will bring.

 

Data Center Evolution and Network Convergence.

Presented by Bill Bolton, Presented by Bill Bolton, ed by Bill Bolton, SNIA Europe UK Committee SNIA Europe UK Committee SNIA Europe UK Committee and Senior Presales Consultant, Brocade Consultant, Brocade Brocade 

FC, FCoE, NAS, iSCSI, DCB, traditional LAN, internet/WAN, HPC, clusters, clouds, server virtualization, storage virtualization, network virtualization, and more are all colliding in your data center. Redundancy, resiliency, security, I/O consolidation, network convergence, dynamic application distribution, and thin provisioning with high levels of service are desired at all layers and all data center sizes across a broad spectrum of use cases. You worry about operational separation, buying decisions, investment protection, cost and energy savings, and evolving standards while maintaining very high levels of service and security. The boundaries between previously separate worlds of the storage network and LAN and MAN/WAN are being broken down leading to thinking about data center networks as a whole.

 

The Impact of Virtual Desktops on Storage.

Presented by Salim Mehta, SNIA Europe UK Committee Presented by Salim Mehta, SNIA Europe UK Committee and Europe UK Committee and Data Centre Consultant, Centre Consultant, Cisco

This session will explore the critical storage features needed for Virtual Desktop Initiatives (VDI). The focus will be on storage system features required to meet the performance, and the critical TCO levels necessary for a successful VDI project. The recommendations are taken from hands-on experience implanting VDI projects in mid-sized and large IT environments. Particular attention will be placed on understanding the storage implications of different VDI implementations and how this impact performance and overall project cost. The emphasis will be on practical configuration options and how best to leverage specific storage features in order to maximize storage performance and efficiency.

 

A Hype- A Hype-free Stroll through Cloud Storage Security.

Presented by Presented byGlyn Bowden
SNIA Europe UK Committee and SNIA Europe UK Committee and SNIA Europe UK Committee and Enterprise Enterprise Infrastructure Architect, Infrastructure Architect,NetApp

Cloud storage is emerging as a cloud offering that has appeal to a potentially broad set of organizations. Like other forms of cloud computing, the security must be addressed as part of good governance, managing risks and common sense. The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) guidance on cloud computing security can be used as a starting point for what some believe is a make-or-break element of cloud storage.

This session provides an introduction to cloud computing security concepts and issues as well as identifying key guidance and emerging standards. An overview of the current CSA materials and activities is also provided. The session concludes by providing a security review of the SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) specification, which includes protective measures employed in the management and access of data and storage.

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Partner & Sponsor Presentations

 

Please note: These sessions are delivered by our sponsors and are specific to those particular vendors. Content of these sessions is not validated by the SNIA Europe.

Next Generation Data Protection & Availability. Radically Simple.

Presented by Presented byAndy Slater, Sales Director UK Actifio
Actifio, the Protection and Availability Storage (PAS) platform company, pioneered the industry’s first storage system optimized for managing copies of production data, eliminating redundant silos of IT infrastructure and data management applications. By introducing

virtualization into data management, Actifio delivers an application-centric, SLA-driven solution that decouples the management of data from storage, network and server infrastructure and reduces costs by 10X. Actifio has helped liberate IT organizations and service providers of all sizes from vendor lock-in and the management challenges associated with exploding data growth.

 

The cloud is too cloudy. Get real with hosted solutions.

Presented by Dave Mullender Head of Network Services, TalkTalk Business

 

Preparing your WAN for Key Data Center Initiatives.

Presented by Andrew Gardner, Regional Manager UK & Ireland, Silver Peak Systems Peak Systems

  • An overview of the top CIO data centre trends
  • Specific WAN challenges that can impact the performance of strategic IT projects
  • Tips and techniques for optimising network connectivity to the data centre
  • End user case studies, ROI metrics, and best practice guidelines

 

The Seven Key Questions You Must Ask Before Buying Virtual Machine Protection.

Presented by Stéphane Estevez, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Quantum
Virtualization is widely being adopted by IT teams, from small local businesses to multinational corporations. Protecting virtual machines is something that a large number of organizations are beginning to face in a serious way as users begin to put more core organizational data onto VMs. There are good reasons that a large number of IT departments are uncertain about the best way to implement a VM protection plan as the virtual environment can add to the complexity of your backup and other data protection processes. Because of the technology changing rapidly it makes it harder to keep up and stay current.

This seminar is designed to help IT departments to understand the 7 key questions you may ask yourself before buying a VM protection product. 7 questions to make sure that you’ll buy not only a product that works, but a product that will optimize your virtual data protection without having to change everything. 7 pragmatic questions to make sure you’ll not miss a key element.

 

Intelligent Application Acceleration for Enterprise IT Deployment of Solid IT Deployment of Solid State Storage.

Presented by Mike Rees, Channel Sales Manager, LSI Presented by Mike Rees, Channel Sales Manager, LSI
Find out how, through the use of intelligent solid-state storage technology, you can drastically accelerate your application performance while lowering total cost of ownership. In this presentation Mike will discuss some of the key industry challenges faced by data centre managers today and how flash-based application acceleration solutions can be implemented to address these.

 

Storage Considerations for Your Virtual Environment.

Presented by Chris Bushell, Storage Sales Consulting Manager,Oracle
As organisations move to virtualised infrastructures, there is the need to centralise the storage in order to take full advantage of the virtualised environment. This can bring with it some unexpected storage challenges that can lead to increased capacity requirements and poor performance if not approached correctly.

This session will show you how you can deliver a consolidated environment that can be optimised to deliver the appropriate performance and resources to each individual virtual machine based on its business priority. It will show how Quality of Service, Storage Domains and other unique features can improve efficiency and dramatically reduce costs.

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