Where knowledge is power. (Storage as I See It).

In an ocean of bad economic news, there are some islands of positive notes. One such note is that network storage is expected to represent 80% of the $60 billion storage market by 2005. Another such note comes from the Gartner analysts, who believe that IT managers will have a little more to spend on storage by Q3 of 2003. The big questions are: What will IT want to buy, and what will the integrator/VAR/OEM be ready to sell them? In order for supply to meet the expected demand, both the reseller and IT management will need to make knowledgeable choices, based on a firm understanding of the technologies and processes out there.

How do you gain that knowledge and support that understanding? One very good way is to keep reading Computer Technology Review, Storage Management Solutions and the other West-World publications. The technology features, case studies, tutorials and other editorial blandishments are designed to keep you up to the minute.

Another way, and one to pay special attention to, is www.datastorageuniversity.com. Implemented by some of the forward thinkers at Fujifilm, the website offers a thoroughgoing discussion of mass storage technology. The curriculum is designed for the new reseller looking to get grounding in storage to widen the product mix. It is also designed for the reseller who wants to sell even more storage to the existing customer base. There is also an analyst track for professional market watchers who need that firm understanding of storage and how it interacts with the system.

The education you get from datastorageuniversity.com is not the conventional lecture/presentation format. Learning is accomplished in interactive labs, spread across the areas of video, image, audio and mass storage. In each of these labs, the characteristics of storage in terms of speed and performance are explored. There is text capable of being downloaded, which is written to be understood. Chapters emerge as the student progresses through the interactive labs, or the text can be read in its entirety to gain a quick conception of the history and concepts behind data storage. DSU, as it is called, also makes available to students a comprehensive glossary of terms (helpful in our acronym-crazy business) and a media compatibility guide.

One of the most satisfying elements of DSU is that the program is not an ongoing commercial for the sponsors at Fujifilm. You hardly see the company name from one end of DSU to the other. One of the people in my office asked me: "If it's not a commercial, why is Fujifilm doing this? After all, maintaining the website and telephone support costs quite a bit."

The only answer that I could suggest is the one I mentioned at the beginning of this column. If IT is going to spend money in storage, it needs to know which technologies make sense to them. If the channel is going to serve these IT managers, it needs to know what to sell, and to whom. Fujifilm clearly feels that the best buyer, and the most consistent buyer, is the most knowledgeable buyer. And that makes sense up and down the supply chain.

DSU is worth taking time to complete. If the old adage is true that knowledge is power, you can never have enough knowledge at your disposal.