Sessions in detail

In 2001 when Storage Decisions debuted, most of our attendees faced the same challenge: to figure out how to get their SANs up and running. Almost a decade later, our delegates represent a much more diverse group -- with varying levels of experience and responsibilities. But, most organizations face challenges that are similar to one another.

So, to help your IT team succeed – the Storage Decisions Toronto Summit now features 5 distinct session tracks. Each track is custom built to serve the information needs of each of the specific members of your storage team. Read on to find out more about each session and which track or tracks suit you best as you and your peers continue to face shared challenges and individual responsibilities.

Track 1: Backup Technologies
Track 2: Disaster Recovery
Track 3: Storage Systems & Storage Management
Track 4: Managing Storage Networks
Track 5: Management/Executive

Track 1: Backup Technologies

Data protection continues to be Job #1 for most storage managers -- a job that only gets more complex as each year companies add up to 50% more storage capacity. The good news is that newer technologies can help in this uphill battle, but you still have to determine the right tools for the job, how they will work within the context of you storage environment and whether they provide the level of protection that your company requires.

Among the topics covered in this track are data deduplication, virtual tape libraries, the newly integrated backup suites, matching data protection levels to business needs and how archiving fits into a data protection scenario.

Backup on a Budget

Presented by W. Curtis Preston, Executive Editor and Independent Backup Expert, TechTarget

Cloud services offer low-cost, pay-as-you-go backup without the need to invest in physical infrastructure. Other inexpensive backup options include products based on open-source code. Vendors such as Zmanda Inc. and Bacula Systems SA offer support contracts in much the same fashion that Red Hat Inc. does for Linux. In this session, we’ll outline some of the non-traditional alternatives that IT shops might consider when funds are tight. Topics will include

* Survey of low-cost backup choices
* Scenarios when non-traditional options make sense
* TCO vs. traditional backup

Protecting Data on the Edge

Presented by W. Curtis Preston, Executive Editor and Independent Backup Expert, TechTarget

According to industry statistics, the majority of a typical company’s data doesn’t reside on data center storage -- it lives on the “edge.” The edge may be desktop PCs, laptops or even smart phones and PDAs. Often, the data that these devices hold falls through the backup cracks and is inadequately protected, if at all. We describe the most effective techniques, tools and best practices for protecting edge or mobile data in this session, including:

* Backing up remote sites to the data center
* Backing up laptops
* Using cloud storage services
* Preventing data leaks through USB ports and other portable storage devices
* Smartphone and PDA back u

Track 2: Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery isn’t just about being able to resume business as quickly as possible after a catastrophic incident. It’s also about avoiding the situations that could jeopardize your company’s reputation and good standing -- like the loss of customer data.

But DR isn’t a one-size-fits-all affair, with different company assets requiring varying levels of protection and recoverability. We’ll look at some of the new tools for testing DR readiness, DR issues related to specific types of data and how virtualization can affect a DR plan, among other topics.

Replication Alternatives for DR

Presented by Marc Staimer, CDS, Dragon Slayer Consulting

Remote replication has become the method of choice for maintaining up to date, restorable data replicas at remote DR sites. There are a variety ways of implementing replication, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and within a wide range of costs. This session will focus on replication architectures and administration, including:

* Host-based vs. switch or appliance-based vs. array-based replication
* Storage system requirements
* Communications requirements
* The most popular replication products -- key features, benefits and shortcomings of each

Server Virtualization, Business Continuance and Disaster Recovery

Presented by Greg Schulz, Founder and Senior Analyst, StorageIO

Server virtualization has the potential to bring sophisticated business continuance (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) techniques to organizations that previously didn't have the means to adopt them. Likewise, virtualized as well as cloud environments need to be included in a BC/DR plan to enable application and data availability. Learn tips and tricks on building an accessible BC/DR strategy and plan using server virtualization and the storage products that enable efficient, flexible green and virtual data centers. Topics include:

* Cross technology domain data protection management
* Tiered data protection to stretch your IT budget dollar
* What’s needed to enable BC/DR for virtualized environments
* How virtualization can enable BC/DR for non-virtualized environments
* General HA, BC/DR and data protection tips for virtual environments

Track 3: Storage Systems & Storage Management

With spiraling capacities the norm, managing storage systems has become a challenging task. Traditional SRM tools are often adept on keeping tabs on the state of your storage infrastructure, but more focused applications are becoming increasingly available. Storage virtualization also promises to ease storage management and improve disk usage, but there are inherent issues that need to be fully understood before embarking on a virtualization project.

Traditional methods of operational data protection such as RAID tend to be complex and difficult to configure and manage, but some storage vendors are offering compelling alternatives. In this track, we’ll also examine power conservation for storage systems, a new requisite for most storage shops struggling to balance increased capacity and soaring energy costs.

The Truth about Virtualizing Storage

Presented by Marc Staimer, Founder and CDS, Dragon Slayer Consulting

This session is a “roll up your sleeves” look at the technical details of implementing storage virtualization. The practical benefits of storage virtualization will be discussed, including how to assess your environment to determine the cost-effectiveness of virtualization. Topics include:

* How to determine where virtualization should occur
* The product choices for each storage virtualization scenario
* Specific implementation issues -- and gotchas
* How to set up a pilot virtualization program -- and then roll it out into production

* Best practices for implementing, maintaining and managing storage virtualization

Integrating Solid State Storage

Presented by Dennis Martin, Founder and President, Demartek

In this session, we’ll look at the advantages/disadvantages of integrating solid state drives in traditional storage systems. The presentation will also describe new techniques that solid state vendors or using to make this integration more effective. Topics will include:

* Performance vs. cost
* Power & cooling
* DRAM vs. Flash
* Plug-in flash (using standard hard disk interfaces)
* How vendors are adding flash to their systems (and built-from-the-ground-up memory-based storage systems, e.g., Texas Memory Systems
* New architectures/integrations (e.g., Fusion-IO, Sun & Micron) & specialized controllers

Track 4: Managing Storage Networks

The core of any networked storage infrastructure is the basic hardware components: storage arrays and the fabric that links them to client servers and other services. Over the past few years, the trend has been to networks built around director-class switches -- but how those directors are used is the key to whether they’re just consolidation points to replace core-edge architectures or if they actually put more intelligence into the network.

Storage systems, too, have undergone considerable change. iSCSI storage arrays have steady increased their presence in data centers and remote locations, and as iSCSI technology and implementations mature, their impact is certain to become more profound. And on the leading edge of storage are systems that eschew or greatly reduce the role of spinning disks, replacing them with solid state devices that run cool, use far less power and take up less space. In this track, we’ll look at the implications of these recent developments.

Not "Just a Switch" Anymore -- Data Center "Backbone" Architectures

Presented by Dennis Martin, Founder and President, Demartek

The leading switch vendors have revealed their visions of a unified data center network infrastructure. It sound good, but what are the ramifications for the storage networking infrastructures you have in place. This session will cover:

* The technologies that are available now—and what’s still needed
* Key protocols and standards that will make the unified data center work
* The advantages—and drawbacks—of having an integrated network
* How will currently installed storage networks be affected

The Five Myths of Storage Management for Distributed Systems and Mainframe Environments

Presented by Jon Toigo, CEO and Managing Principal, Toigo Partners International, and Chairman of the Data Management Institute

With increasing pressure to do more with fewer staff, renewed focus has been placed on infrastructure manageability, especially storage infrastructure. Those with mainframes may believe their management story to be superior to the distributed crowd, but changes including consolidation of X86 systems into LPARs are creating new challenges that the distributed computing administrators already know. Bottom line: storage management remains a huge and growing problem in most organizations, contributing to cost, compliance, continuity and carbon issues.

Toigo examines the five myths that have developed around contemporary storage management and outlines a service-oriented strategy for bringing storage under better control.

Track 5: Management/Executive

Sometimes technology alone won’t solve storage-related issues. You also need to be adept about the business of acquiring storage systems. As a storage manager, you will be called on to develop storage solutions to satisfy evolving business needs -- always with an eye on the key financial acid tests for any storage purchase: ROI and TCO.

This track addresses the essential parts of the storage system procurement process, including how to craft an RFP, negotiating from a position of strength, evaluating systems and getting the support of your company’s management.

Building a Service-Oriented Data Protection Strategy

Presented by Jon Toigo, CEO and Managing Principal, Toigo Partners International, and Chairman of the Data Management Institute

Data protection is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. Different data protection methods, ranging from WAN-based data replication and clustering to tape backup and restore, are available to provide the data recovery capability that a business process or application requires. Matching data protection service levels to business requirements is not only a rational approach, but also a cost effective one.

The challenge, however, to service level-based data protection provisioning is the multiplicity of data protection methods that must be monitored and managed. How can we integrate tape backup and disk to disk replication services under a common monitoring umbrella, simplifying the management role? How can we facilitate the on-going testing of recovery scenarios – through a combination of simulated and real time testing – to ensure that service levels can be met even as the volume of data being protected changes? How can we wrangle third party hardware- and software-based data protection schemes into a coherent facility for centralized monitoring and management? Toigo sets out the challenge and examines potential solutions.

The Other Green -- Storage Efficiency and Optimization

Presented by Greg Schulz, Founder and Senior Analyst, StorageIO

Throw out the "green“: buzzword, and you're still left with the task of saving or maximizing use of space, power, and cooling while stretching available IT dollars to support growth and business sustainability. For some environments the solution may be consolation while others need to maintain quality of service response time, performance and availability necessitating faster, energy efficient technologies to achieve optimization objectives. To accomplish these and other related issues, you can turn to the cloud, virtualization, intelligent power management, data footprint reduction and data management not to mention various types of tiered storage and performance optimization techniques. The session will look at various techniques and strategies to optimize either on-line active or primary as well as near-line or secondary storage environment during tough economic times, as well as to position for future growth, after all, there is no such thing as a data recession! Topics include:

* Energy efficiency (strategic) vs. energy avoidance (tactical)
* Optimization and the need for speed vs. the need for capacity
* Metrics and measurements for management insight
* Tiered storage and tiered access including SSD, FC, SAS and clouds
* Data footprint reduction (archive, compress, dedupe) and thin provision
* Best practices, financial incentives and what you can do today