Agreement Expands Storage Professional Certification Opportunities Worldwide
Storage Networking Industry Association 2006 Winter Symposium, SAN JOSE, Calif.—January 25, 2006—Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions™ solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today introduced its new global customer and partner education initiative at the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) 2006 Winter Symposium. The Hitachi Data Systems Certified Storage Professional Program is designed to validate the skills and expertise of Hitachi Data Systems partners, customers and personnel in the architecture, implementation, support and administration of the company's storage solutions. With today's announcement, Hitachi Data Systems becomes the first member of the SNIA to incorporate the association's vendor-neutral certification program to provide a unique competitive advantage and speed-to-certification edge.
With this agreement, the SNIA will also recognize Hitachi Data Systems Certified Storage Professional Program credentials in its own certification program, enabling participants to take advantage of credentials used in two different, but complementary, major storage certification programs. This recognition will expand the availability of the association's vendor-neutral storage educational offerings and further streamline the certification process for storage professionals. Participants in the Hitachi Data Systems program benefit by gaining peer recognition, increasing their visibility within the company, and certifying their skills and domain knowledge.
"Hitachi Data Systems worked closely with the SNIA to better meet the skills and knowledge needs of the storage community," said Nick Howe, vice president, Worldwide Training, Hitachi Data Systems. "The training and certification program is an opportunity for all partners, customers and employees to deepen their skills and knowledge of products, technologies and best practices offered by Hitachi Data Systems, and develop their expertise in deploying these services and solutions. In addition, this upgraded program was specifically designed in response to customer and partner input on how to better meet time-to-market and implementation needs."
Hitachi Data Systems certification program was developed in part from the SNIA's Job Task Analysis Survey, the results of which help determine the direction and method of the SNIA's certification and educational programs. Hitachi Data Systems' global, role-based program builds upon and certifies the skills and knowledge of participants as storage industry professionals.
"The collaboration between Hitachi Data Systems and the SNIA supports our mission of ensuring storage networks become complete and trusted solutions through educational outreach," said Wayne M. Adams, chair, SNIA. "The SNIA education curriculum encompasses a wide range of vendor-neutral topics designed to improve storage networking management and administration skills through better understanding of best practices. Hitachi Data Systems has taken a leadership role in the storage industry by using the SNIA certification model as the foundation for its certification programs."
The Hitachi Data Systems Certified Storage Professional 2006 Program offers the widest variety of delivery platforms to best accommodate its customers and partners, including:
For more information on Hitachi Data Systems Certified Storage Professional 2006 Program, visit http://www.hds.com/products_services/education/certifications.html. For information on the SNIA's Educational offerings, please visit www.snia.org.
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit global organization made up of more than 420 active member companies plus their worldwide affiliates and close to 7,100 active individuals spanning virtually the entire storage industry. SNIA members share the common goal of advancing the adoption of storage networks as complete and trusted solutions. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For additional information, visit the SNIA web site at http://www.snia.org.
Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs.
With approximately 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Website at http://www.hitachi.com.
Hitachi Data Systems
Mary Ann Gallo
(408) 970-4836
mary.ann@hds.com
SNIA
Dan La Russo
(303) 634-2632
dan.larusso@ogilvypr.com
© 2006, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. HiCommand is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. Services Oriented Storage Solutions and TagmaStore are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.
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