SNIA Gets International Standard Recognition

January 29, 2007: SNIA has moved one step further towards its goal of storage interoperability through the designation of SIS-S as an International Standard by ISO.

The Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) was created as a means to developing interoperable storage management technologies by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA.) It was a standard that SNIA pushed aggressively at the Storage Networking World conference in Sydney last year, and one promoted accross all aspects of the globe.

Now, after gaining acceptance by the American National Standards Institute in 2006, the SMI-S will launch offically beyond North America after being accredited by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) as an International Standard.

“Continued progress toward the establishment of standards benefits end users by decreasing their interoperability pain points,” said Wendy Betts, chair of the SNIA End User Council. “Global enterprises are deploying storage networks in increasingly large numbers to support their worldwide infrastructure, and SMI-S is allowing users to centrally manage their multi-vendor, multi-geography networks through a standard interface.”

SNIA says SMI-S has already resulted in more than 450 products being tested for conformance with the standard. The Association is now looking to further expand on the Standard’s capabilities to meet expectations of users and the needs of evolving storage technology.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has also approved the standard. It’s yet another important milestone for SNIA, as the global organisation is responsible for developing and publishing international standards and specifications for all electrical and related technologies with membership consisting of over 60 countries.

According the SNIA, the adoption of SMI-S as an ISO/IEC International Standard is a move that is bound to increase market confidence in interoperability. “The recognition of SMI-S by ISO and IEC is clear evidence that the specification has become visible among the worldwide storage community as a key to helping increase storage interoperability and decrease management complexity,” said Vincent Franceschini, chair of the SNIA.

“It is also evidence of SNIA's growing reputation for producing high quality standards,” he said.

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