9656776 EMC Academic Alliance Program

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EMC Academic Alliance Program

Partner Guide

EMC Education Services

ACADEMICALLIANCE


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Table of Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Why Storage Education? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

EMC Academic Alliance Program Origin and Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

EMC Academic Alliance Program Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

EMC Proven Professional Certification Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

The EMC Academic Alliance Program Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Program Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Professor/Instructor Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Faculty Readiness Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Student Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Commitments and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

EMC Academic Alliance Program Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Joining the EMC Academic Alliance Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Best-Practice Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

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Executive Summary

Numerous studies and research illustrate that the volume of data that needs to be stored,

managed, secured, maintained, and available is reaching new heights. Additionally, the

complexity of data is challenging existing IT professionals as they are tasked to comply with

regulatory requirementsand meetthe growing demand for quickly accessed, fully available data.

EMC Corporation is the worlds leading developer and provider of information infrastructure

technology and solutions. Based on our own research, and the research of respected

analysts, we are anticipating a data explosion that is likely to be disruptive in technology

environments that are unprepared.

Currently, storage professionals tend to be IT employees who have learned about storage

informally through peer mentoring, or self-study. Combine the data explosion with informal

learning and youll reach the same conclusion that we did; there wont be enough educated

storage professionals to manage these environments. In fact, research indicates that the

industry will need more than one million skilled storage professionals by the year 2012. Its

easy to see that a serious bottleneck is facing the industry; a severe shortage of storage-educated professionals.

Where will these educated professionals come from? From colleges and universities who

provide the education. EMC is contributing to filling this gap in the storage talent pipeline by

offering a unique open storage curriculum to colleges and universities. A first in the

industry, the Storage Technology course focuses on storage principles and concepts rather

than on EMC-specific technology. It provides a broad base of knowledge that can easily be

applied in any data center The EMC Academic Alliance program extends the reach of the

Storage Technology course into colleges and universities across the globe.

If your college or university is interested in graduating students who have a comprehensive,

unique education, we welcome a conversation about joining our EMC Academic Allianceprogram. Feel free to contact us at [email protected] to learn more.

Why Storage Education?

Corporate CIOs and IT managers understand that their single most critical asset is their data.

Whether e-mail or medical records, more and more data is being created in a wide variety of

formats (audio, video, mpeg files). Much of that data is subject to regulations that require

data to be available for extended periods of time. IT managers are challenged to create and

manage an information infrastructure that can store, protect, manage, optimize, and leverage

this information in the most cost-effective and efficient means available.

IT departments are implementing SANs (storage area networks), NAS (network-attachedstorage), and using data replication technologies to solve the storage capacity, data

availability, and data mobility problems. Storage spending illustrates that it is one of the

fastest growing segments of IT.

Based on a CIO Magazine Tech Poll for 20071, more than 50 percent of respondents ranked

storage and servers as the top items for spending increases over the next 12 months.

According to a recent Gartner CIO survey, storage technology was ranked fifth of the top-ten

technology priorities. CIOs need to exploit new approaches and technologies to support the

business needs of their organizations.2 In an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor job data

and a survey conducted by EMC, it is estimated that over one million new storage jobs will be

created worldwide by 2012.3

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1CIO Magazine, December 2006. http://peoplepolls.com/results/CIO/120706.asp?user=CIO andhttp://www.cio.com/info/releases/122906_techpoll.pdf

2Gartner EXP Survey of More than 1,400 CIOs Shows CIOs Must Create Leverage to Remain Relevant to the Businesshttp://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=501189

3Hecker, Daniel, Occupational employment projections to 2012, Monthly Labor Review, February 2004, pp. 80-105


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Despite all the projections and spending data, most storage infrastructures are still

relatively unknown to most IT professionals. Informal learning has occurred, but storage

has been in existence for some time. Why then, is so much emphasis being placed on

information infrastructure technologies now?

One major reason is that system downtime is expensive. Data unavailability can cost a

company millions of dollars (Figure 1). Information must be continuously available to

support the business, relying on effective data management and storage allocation.

Figure 1 Cost of Downtime

Companies require an IT infrastructure that can support data availability for both businessand legal needs. Todays IT departments are implementing information management

infrastructures to meet these needs.

Typically, intelligent storage disk arrays are at the core of these information infrastructure

solutions. Intelligent arrays provide organizations with the ability to store, protect,

manage, optimize, and leverage their data.

Depending on business needs and solution requirements, different storage technologies

can solve the data management needs. They include SANs (storage area networks), NAS

(network-attached storage), DAS (direct-attached storage), and CAS (content-addressable

storage). These technologies, as well as advancements in hard disk drives and data

delivery through high-speed networks (Fibre Channel and IP networks), have enabledorganizations to maintain data availability.

Additionally, for each type of storage technology, there is array-based data replication

software functionality to copy and move data for backups, business continuance, and

disaster recovery, migration, and testing. So, if these storage technologies have become

so prevalent, how do storage professionals learn about them?

Vendors typically provide training on their products; and focus on training, not education.

Many Computer Science and Information Technology degree programs at colleges and

universities focus on computer architecture, operating systems, databases, networking,

and software application developmentbut not storage technologies.

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If we look at todays IT infrastructure, its important to note that operating systems,

RDBMS, networks, applications, and storage are integrated to form the five pillars of IT

(Figure 2). We can see all these technologies interact when an end user with a software

application makes a read or write request for data over the network. The operating system

processes the request, the database organizes the data into tables and the disk array

sends or receives the data, protects it, and secures it.

Figure 2 Five Pillars of IT

EMC recently conducted an extensive survey of IT professionals to acquire data about the

storage skills gap. Survey results drove EMC to develop a first-of-its-kind educational

solution to meet both industry and academias needs. Weve engaged industry analysts,

customers, and partners in our research; all agree that storage education is needed to

meet the growing complexity of data and the demand for skilled storage professionals in

the marketplace.

EMC Study Data

EMC conducted a study (global surveyof over 1,200 IT professionals) and identified the key

challenges for managing increasingly complex information infrastructures. Figure 3

identifies the key challenges faced by IT/storage managers.

Figure 3 Key Challenges for Managing Storage

Backup has been in practice for decades, so how can it not be performed to the desiredlevel? EMC contends that the backup process is becoming more complex with massive

amounts of data from different sources, different levels of importance, and retention

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OPERATINGSYSTEMS

APPLICATIONS

DA

TABASES

NETWORKS

IN

FORMATIONSTORAGE

Pillars of Information Technology

INFORMATIONSTORAGE

OPERATINGSYSTEMS

AP

PLICATIONS

DATABASES

NETWORKS

Challenges Identified by IT and Storage Managers and Professionals

Managing storage growth

Designing, deploying, and managing backup and recovery

Designing, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutions

Making informed strategic/big-picture decisions

Designing and deploying multi-site environments

Designing and deploying emerging storage technologies

(such as storage virtualization, IP, SAN, GRID, etc.)

Lack of skilled storage professionals

Managing data availability/data retention compliance


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periods that vary based on content. Individuals managing the environment dont always

have a full understanding since they have not been provided a comprehensive education

on the infrastructure corestorage technologies. Figure 4 substantiates the complexity

issue and identifies key pain points by priority.

Figure 4 Key Pain Points for Managing Storage

Figure 5 reveals hiring plans and requirements for storage personnel over the next 12months. Not surprisingly, those plans are aggressive. The lack of skilled storage

professionals is a serious gap due to the lack of formal standards and education

specifically targeting storage technologies. The EMC Academic Alliance, in partnership

with innovative colleges and universities, is seeking to close this skill gap.

Figure 5 Hiring Requirements of Next 12 Months

Research also reveals that hiring managers prefer to hire experienced storage

professionals. However, these individuals are difficult to find and often even more difficultto retain. Without a pipeline of experienced storage professionals, companies are seeking

certified individuals as the preferred alternative.

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IT and Storage Managers

80% Managing storage growth

61% Designing, deploying, and managing backup and recovery

58% Designing, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutions

48% Making informed strategic/big-picture decisions

40% Designing and deploying multi-site environments

36% Designing and deploying emerging storage technologies(such as storage virtualization, IP, SAN, GRID, etc.)

30% Lack of skilled storage professionals

27% Compliance regulations

Storage Professionals

73% Managing storage growth

62% Designing, deploying, and managing backup and recovery

61% Designing, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutions

42% Making informed strategic/big-picture decisions

42% Designing and deploying multi-site environments

36% Designing and deploying emerging storage technologies(such as storage virtualization, IP, SAN, GRID, etc.)

31% Lackof skilled storage professionals

23% Compliance regulations


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Figure 6 Looking to Hire Certified Individuals

Colleges and universities can close this gap in the IT industry and provide students with a

needed education on storage technologies through the EMC Academic Alliance program.

EMC Academic Alliance Program Origin and Concept

The EMC Education Services team took a creative approach to fill the talent pipeline.

EMCs research with storage customers revealed that finding individuals who understand

the information infrastructure big picture was their biggest pain point. IT organizations

need people that understand, at a high level, the five pillars of IT.

The storage industry has not standardized on a common set of tools and as a result there are

many product offerings to perform the same task. Therefore, a focus on equipment-based,

task-based learning poses a risk to students entering diverse technical infrastructures.

EMC Education Services employees with experience in academia created a course focused

on storage technologies. Based on our research, we developed course materials focusing on

storage theory, storage design, and information management skills.

This open curriculum meets the needs of most academic institutions worldwide.

Students preparing for roles in areas like database or network management benefit from stor-

age knowledge since they will undoubtedly encounter storage infrastructures in their careers.

Colleges and universities focused on providing a comprehensive IT education can introduce

storage education to thousands of students, preparing them for a career in a challenging

and rewarding career.

EMCs Academic Alliance program has executive-level support. Joe Tucci, Chairman, Presi-

dent, and Chief Executive Officer of EMC, who serves on the Presidents Council of Advisorson Science and Technology (PCAST) and as Chairman of the Business Roundtable Task Force

on Education and the Workforce, views the EMC Academic Alliance program as a vehicle to

improve technology education worldwide. This is EMCs opportunity to give back to the

broader IT community by creating a pathway to storage proficiency.

EMC has a history of corporate giving, in-kind contributions, and volunteerism. Offering the Stor-

age Technology Foundations course to colleges and universities at no charge is just one of the

many ways that EMC expresses its commitment to community and to the broader IT community.

With executive support and funding from the highest levels, the EMC Academic Alliance

program was initiated in late 2005 and launched in July 2006.

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EMC Academic Alliance Program Structure

The characteristics of the EMC Academic Alliance program include:

Teaching focus that provides CS/IT students with education about storage concepts andprinciples, not products.

EMC offers the course materials and additional support at no cost to participating

colleges/universities.

EMC supports academic freedom, and where warranted, the need to supplement the materi-

als with additional reading, research, or assignments.

EMC facilitates knowledge transfer via the Faculty Readiness program.

We and our partners are exploring research opportunities with EMC the CTO office.

IT companies are likely to recruit and hire students with storage knowledge.

The structure of the program includes:

No cost to join and no cost for the Storage Technology Foundations course.

EMC and the university or college complete an agreement.

EMC retains ownership of the course materials.

The course must be offered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program for credit.

Use of the materials in an adult education or other for-profit program is restricted and must

be done through the EMC Learning Partner channel.

The course becomes part of the universitys or colleges degree program offering. The university

or college schedules course delivery and lists the course in their course catalogue and website.

Universities or colleges determine how they implement the course, either as an elective to

junior or senior students or as a core offering. The university or college provides student instruction and the faculty member(s) to teach the

course. Credentialing is done by the university or college.

The university or college uses the full materials to teach the course and may supplement the

materials. Sections of the course can be used in other courses provided a complete course

offering is delivered. Sections of the course cannot be used in other courses unless the com-

plete course is being taught.

EMC provides program support; faculty training (no cost for attending a session), trade-

mark/logo for use in collateral materials, guest lectures/site visits, recruiting, and opportu-

nities for research.

EMC has included the course as part of the EMC Proven Professional program so that if

students are inclined, they can become EMC certified.

EMC Proven Professional Certification Program

The EMC Proven Professional program is the backbone of the EMC Academic Alliance. With

over 20,000 certifications, EMC Proven Professional is recognized as the leading storage

certification program. An EMC certification is a top-ranked certification according to

studies conducted by Certification Magazine. This, coupled with certification as a desired

hiring criterion, provides unique opportunities for new graduates.

The Storage Technology course used in the EMC Academic Alliance program maps to the

newly created Storage Technologist track, a track open to IT professionals and students.

Successful completion of the course and exam certifies storage knowledge.

To learn more about the EMC Proven Professional program, visit our website at

http://www.EMC.com/certification/.

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The EMC Academic Alliance Program Opportunity

Based on experiences with institutes that are already participating in the EMC Academic

Alliance program, there are two degree programs that are optimal for this storage training:

Information Science/Information Technology and Computer Science degree programs. The

EMC Academic Alliance program includes all the support mechanisms that will allow yourinstitution to successfully implement this program.

Program Benefits

By participating in this program, institutes can:

Fill the storage gap in IT education

Provide technology versus product-focused learning

Enhance their competitive advantage and recruit top candidates

Improve their reputation as leading edge, technology-centric institutions

Increase job placement rates among graduates

Students involved with the EMC Academic Alliance will:

Receive relevant education in a high-growth IT segment

Develop skills to design and manage storage solutions

Gain a competitive advantage in the IT marketplace

Have an opportunity to achieve an EMC Proven Professional certification

Professor/Instructor Profile

Professors and instructors should have an in-depth knowledge and experience in

operating systems and networking.

Operating SystemsCPU, memory, I/O pathing, commands, directory structure, registry

NetworkingTCP/IP, network design and support, troubleshooting, Active Directory Ser-

vices, monitoring tools, upgrades, and patches

File Systems and Data Structures

If possible, previous work experience in system administration and/or network

administration is beneficial.

Faculty Readiness Program

The Faculty Readiness program (train the trainer) is a critical part of our offering.

Professors and instructors are encouraged to:

Review course materials

Preparation by reading

Attend the Storage Technology Foundations class as a student

No cost to attend

Pass exam or self-assessment

Assessment will be the Practice Exam

Begin teaching, teach others

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EMC schedules Storage Technology Foundations classes on a quarterly basis so that

professors and instructors have opportunities to participate. The Storage Technology

Foundations course is instructor-led, using case studies and group discussions to ensure

knowledge transfer. The participating college or university is responsible for faculty travel

expenses for the class; the class itself is free of charge.

Student Profile

Students should have successfully completed Introduction to Computers, Computer

Architecture, Operating Systems, TCP/IP Networking, and File System structures.

Ideally, students will have knowledge of:

Computer Operating SystemsCPU, memory, busses, I/O, device drivers, buffering, job

scheduling, virtual memory, file systems, and file system structure

NetworkingTCP/IP, Ethernet, addressing, mapping, flow control, naming, routing/traffic

Commitments and Expectations

These are the college and university commitments required to participate in the program:

Agree to and sign EMC Academic Alliance partner contract

Identify two faculty members to complete the Faculty Readiness program

Enroll students

Market program to student population

Acquire EMC materials

Course materialsfacilitator guide, student guide, presentations

Industry reference materials

Distribute student guide to students

Incorporate course into degree program as core or elective option

EMC Academic Alliance Program Website

The EMC Education website has a section devoted to the EMC AcademicAlliance program. The

website provides program information for instructors, students, and officials to keep you

current with the program. Please visit the site at http://education.EMC.com/main/guest/

academy/index.htm.

Joining the EMC Academic Alliance Program

Contact your EMC Education Consultant who has talked to you about this program or, if you

have not yet been contacted, feel free to contact us at [email protected] or call us at

1-888-EMC-TRNG (1-888-362-8764).

Thank you for your interest in this program and we look forward to partnering with you.

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Best-Practice Recommendations

Enclosed are some best-practice recommendations

1. Determine credit value for the course.

2. Determine course placement as either an elective or core course.

3. Determine prerequisite courses in order to enroll in the storage courses.

4. Develop course description and course outline to be included in institute catalogue and

website where course information is listed.

5. Develop an enrollment/marketing plan to inform students about the course and gain

enrollments.

6. Use the EMC Academic Alliance program flyers developed by EMC to supportenrollments.

7. Select faculty; this is a critical success factor. Previous backgrounds in storage are

obviously beneficial, but not expected. Typically, a focus on systems integration,

computer systems administration, or hardware integration is desirable.

8. Successful completion of the Faculty Readiness program is required, but the use of

additional sources in the form of text books, online research, and active learning will

accelerate instructors knowledge. The most successful instructors immerse themselves

in the technology.

9. Visit the EMC Academic Alliance website for current program information and additionalinformation.

10. Visit the Faculty eRoom and download course materials.

11. Engage EMC and provide updates on program status relative to enrollments, issues,

and any additional support that may be required.


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EMC Corporation

Hopkinton

Massachusetts

01748-9103

1-508-435-1000

In North America 1-866-464-7381

EMC2, EMC, eRoom, and where information lives

are registered trademarksand EMC Proven is a

trademark of EMC Corporation. All other trade-

marks used herein are the property of their

respective owners.

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. All rights

reserved. Published in the USA. 09/07

EMC Education Services

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www.EMC.com

9656776 EMC Academic Alliance Program

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