Managing Information Storage - EMC Education, Training, and ...

EMC’s Response and InitiativesEMC recognizes the need for more highly skilled professionals in its customer base and across theentire IT industry. EMC conducted this study to identify deficiencies in the storage industry and toidentify how we can contribute to addressing these challenges.The following key initiatives offer options for storage managers and professionals to acquire orimprove their skills to benefit their organizations:Education Solutions• ‘Open’ Storage Technology Curriculum– Unique offering in the industry; leads with concepts and principles– Covers all segments and aspects of information storage and management technology• EMC Technology-Specific Learning Paths– Help leverage extensive capabilities of EMC technology and solutions– Comprehensive coverage for all segments of EMC technology• EMC Proven Professional Certification Program– Formal validation and recognition– Option of ‘Open’ and/or more than 10 EMC technology specialties– Exclusive Knowledge Maintenance and Sharing featureAll of the above education solutions are available globally via EMC ® Education Services to EMC’scustomers, partners, and employees.In an attempt to help address the widening knowledge gap in the industry, the following exclusiveprograms were introduced to enable non-EMC users, as well as university students, to take advantageof the ‘open’ storage technology curriculum to build a successful career in this high-growth industry:EMC Academic Alliance Program‘Open’ information storage and management curriculum for students in colleges and universities,targeted to help build a highly skilled pool of future storage managers and professionals.EMC Learning Partner Program‘Open’ storage technology curriculum, offered by leading, independent IT training companies,designed to build or improve storage technology skills leading to better design and management ofefficient storage infrastructures.4

1. IntroductionIn a recent study commissioned by EMC, the industry analyst firm IDC estimates that the total volumeof digital information created in 2011 will surge six-fold to an astonishing 1,773 exabytes—1,773billion gigabytes—compared to 2007 (281 exabytes). And while most of this information will becreated by individuals, 85 percent of it will be managed by organizations.This unprecedented explosion of data, its increasing criticality, and business dependency ondigital information are leading to larger and more complex information storage environments thatare increasingly challenging to manage. From the perspective of data availability and protection,information storage infrastructure is the most critical component of an overall IT infrastructure. Itplays a critical role in making applications work efficiently, both locally and across multiple sites.With the increasing complexity and criticality of storage, highly skilled and focused storage groupsare as mission-critical as the technology being deployed.This paper summarizes a global research study that was conducted to learn how companies aremeeting these challenging requirements. These findings will assist IT and storage managers tocompare and correlate their plans with the overall trends in the industry. Even though each companyhas unique requirements, this information will be helpful in building stronger and more efficientstorage management teams. Stronger storage management teams will, in turn, lead to more robuststorage infrastructures.The first such study was carried out by EMC in 2005-2006 and was found to be very useful by ITand storage managers globally. The updates and revisions include:• Most current information via global survey of over 1,400 managers (20 percent) and storageprofessionals (80 percent)• Information on data centers and processing centers instead of entire enterpriseFigure 1:Geographic distribution of survey participantsAsia PacificJapan17%EuropeMiddle East26%Americas57%• Focus on usable storage capacities instead of installed raw capacities• Further details related to storage groups such as job titles, tasks and responsibilities, andhiring plansGlobal trends are identified in areas related to:• Technical environments• Management challenges• Practices for building storage management groups• Options for acquiring more or better storage skillsFigure 2:Annual revenue of companies surveyedNot Known33%%Over $1B25%Up to $100M15%$100M-$500M15%$500M-$1B12%The study was carried out between December 2007 and February 2008. We used comprehensivesurveys and reached out to thousands of storage professionals to assemble and compile thisinformation.The study included:• All major geographies and major industry segments• EMC users as well as those using storage solutions from other vendors• Large, medium, and small enterprises5

2. Challenges Faced by IT and Storage ManagersIT and storage managers identified the following activities and constraints as their key challenges.These challenges (Table 1) are common to both large enterprises as well as SME (small and mediumenterprises) sectors of the industry.Challenges identified by IT and Storage ManagersManaging storage growthDesigning, deploying, and managing backup and recoveryDesigning, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutionsMaking informed strategic/big-picture decisionsDesigning and deploying emerging storage technologies (such as storage virtualization,IP-SAN, GRID, etc.)Designing and deploying multi-site environmentsLack of skilled storage professionalsManaging data availability/data retention complianceTable 1: What keeps them awake? Pain points in order of priority identified by managersEach of these activities is ongoing at various levels in each of the companies. Activities such asbackup/recovery have been in practice for decades; still the professionals believe that they arenot doing enough or not performing them well. Table 2 summarizes the input from managers andprofessionals. There is a strong synergy between the managers and individual contributors asthey have identified exactly the same challenges in similar priority order.IT and Storage Managers82% Managing storage growth60% Designing, deploying, and managing backup and recovery59% Designing, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutions51% Making informed strategic/big-picture decisions45% Designing and deploying emerging storage technologies (such as storage virtualization,IP-SAN, GRID, etc.)31% Designing and deploying multi-site environments26% Lack of skilled storage professionals21% Compliance regulationsStorage Professionals81% Managing storage growth63% Designing, deploying, and managing backup and recovery58% Designing, deploying, and managing disaster recovery solutions48% Making informed strategic/big-picture decisions42% Designing and deploying emerging storage technologies (such as storage virtualization,IP-SAN, GRID, etc.)31% Designing and deploying multi-site environments28% Lack of skilled storage professionals19% Compliance regulationsTable 2: Most important activities/constraints identified as challenges by managers and professionals6

Explosive growth in storage requirements and the storage professionals’ knowledge and skill gapsare the primary reasons for not executing many of these activities to the desired levels. These gapsare not necessarily due to lack of competence, but to the fact that a comprehensive storage technologyeducation has not been available. For example, colleges and universities have not, until now,included information storage and management in their courses. On the other hand, vendor trainingtypically focuses on their products covering deployment and usage rather than building skills andcompetency to architect, design, integrate, and manage an entire infrastructure and end-to-endinformation lifecycle management.We will learn the methodology by which most storage professionals acquire knowledge and buildskills to carry out their assignments in section 4 of this paper.Figure 3:Distribution of multi-site data processingenvironments (Number of data centers/processing facilities across representedcompanies)3. Complex Storage EnvironmentsThis study sought to determine the similarities and differences among storage infrastructures. Theresponses reveal that data centers across the Americas, Europe, and Asia have deployed very similarstorage solutions, including hardware and software. The sizes vary based upon business requirements,or in some cases, a particular vendor may have a stronger presence in a given environment,but on the whole, the deployed technology and challenges are very similar.• Nearly 75 percent of the companies have multi-site data processing environments• Nearly 80 percent of the companies are at various stages of storage consolidationMore thanthree38%Three13%One18%Two31%• Nearly 45 percent of the companies have 100 TB or more of usable storage to manage• Average installed usable capacity has doubled to 450 TB compared to the previous year of 222 TB.3.1 Storage Technology SegmentsStorage technology deployment and its importance to the data center aligned with general markettrends for each of the storage technology segments:Figure 4:Distribution of storage capacity acrossrepresented companies• Storage subsystems, by default, are the most important segment as they provide the backboneinfrastructure, storage capacity, reliability, availability, performance, and connectivity.• Two segments, storage areas networks (SANs) and backup/recovery (BR) were rated important bymore than 75 percent of the storage professionals.500TB-1PB9%Over 1PB15%100-500TB23%Up to 100TB53%• Remote replication was considered important by 50 percent of storage professionals• NAS, virtualization, and local replication are considered important by 25-50 percent of theprofessionals• CAS, IP-SAN, and emerging technologies are considered important by 12 percent of theprofessionalsEach of the technology segments is unique, bringing its own specific business or operational values.For example, SAN and NAS provide connectivity options with unique functionality, while BR andreplication technologies provide options for information protection against planned and unplannedoutages.7

IP-SANCASLocal ReplicationVirtualizationNASRemote ReplicationBackup/RecoverySAN0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%% RespondentsFigure 5: Storage technology segments and their relative importanceIP-SANCASVirtualizationDASReplicationNASBackup/RecoverySAN0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%% RespondentsFigure 6: Most common storage technology segments implementedThese technology segments (Figures 5 and 6) are at various stages of evolution and maturity. Eachis considered sophisticated and complex, and each requires unique skills to assess, plan, design,deploy, and manage them effectively. Deploying specialized experts within the teams, dedicated totheir specialty segments, is the most effective way to manage such diverse technology.8

4. Formalized Storage GroupsStorage infrastructure is mission-critical and nearly 40 percent of infrastructure budgets is allocatedto storage-related products and services. A well structured storage group of highly skilled professionalsis critical to building and maintaining high-performance, highly available storage infrastructures.Job titles and descriptions of dedicated storage professionals are evolving. The following are the mostcommon job functions being deployed by the studied organizations:• Storage Manager–Manager of the formalized storage team or used interchangeably for StorageAdministrator• Storage Administrator–Responsible for day-to-day administration, provisioning, configurationmanagement, monitoring, availability management, etc.• Backup and Recovery Administrator–Responsible for day-to-day backup and recovery relatedoperations• Storage Architect–Responsible for capacity planning, technology planning/design, and processmanagement• Disaster Recovery Administrator or Business Continuity Administrator–Responsible for disasterrecovery, backup and recovery, planning, implementation, and managementStore ManagersStorage AdministratorsBR AdministratorsStorage ArchitectsBC AdministratorsOthers0% 10% 20% 30% 40%Figure 7: Distribution of storage-related functions4.1 ResponsibilitiesStorage groups are responsible for the overall planning, design, implementation, monitoring,managing, testing, and operating of all components of the infrastructure. Interactions with IT andstorage managers and professionals resulted in the list of activities/tasks for which they are responsible(Table 3).The list includes various job functions, including storage administration, architects, DR administration,BR administration, etc. Percent time captured for each of the activities highlights the effortinvolved and possible importance of the tasks. This list could be used as a tool to define responsibilitiesof the storage group and individuals.9

Storage Group - Tasks & ResponsibilitiesManaging the implementation of storage infrastructure 11.9%Integration of the storage infrastructure, databases, and applications 10.9%Backup and recovery of information/data 10.5%Design and/or participate in the design of storage infrastructure 9.8%Provisioning of storage infrastructure 9.7%Troubleshooting 9.1%Monitoring of storage infrastructure 8.1.%Storage capacity planning 6.2%Evaluating storage technologies from different vendors 4.9%Other storage-related activities 3.6%Storage infrastructure reporting 3.2%Monitoring of local and/or remote replication data 2.7%Educating non-storage functions (DBAs, network administrators, etc.) on storage 2.6%technologyParticipating in IT disaster recovery exercise or drill 2.6%Designing and managing storage and information security 1.7%Developing and maintaining storage service-level agreements 1.4%Defining and implementing archival requirements 1.2%% Time SpentTable 3: Typical tasks and responsibilities of storage teams and percentage of time spent over past 12monthsAnother equally important dimension of these responsibilities is their alignment to different storagetechnology segments. Skills and processes are required to manage these tasks against expectedexpertise in one or more assigned “specialty” or storage technology segment. Figure 8 illustrates thepercentage of time spent in the last 12 months by key technology segments implemented.IP-SANCASVirtualizationLocal ReplicationNASPlatformsBackup/RecoverySAN0% 10% 20% 30% 40%% Time invested in last 12 monthsFigure 8: Percentage of time spent by storage professionals by storage technology segment (last 12 months)10

4.2 Storage Group SizeThe storage group consists of multiple roles that include storage architects, managers, and administrators.We continue to find a strong correlation between the number of professionals engaged instorage-related activities and installed storage capacity.The ratio of installed capacity to the number of professionals in the storage team is high at lowercapacities and it reduces as the capacity increases. If we count 100 percent of the dedicated storageprofessionals (If two individuals are spending 50 percent of their time on storage-related activities,they are counted as one professional in this exercise), the current ratio at 100 TB is 1:20 (one professionalfor every 20 TB installed). In other words, five full-time, dedicated professionals are managinga storage pool of 100 TB and its associated applications.The ratio reached 1:70 at 500 TB, where approximately 14 professionals are managing 500 TB. Inlarger storage infrastructures the ratio continues to reduce. Typically, 17 professionals are managing1.5 PB of storage (ratio of nearly 1:90).Gigabytes160014001200100080060040020003 4 4 5 7 14 17Number of professionals dedicated to managing storage infrastructureFigure 9: Number of storage professionals vs. storage capacity they manage4.3 Storage Group Skills and PerformanceAnalysis of IT and storage managers’ assessments of skill levels leads to the conclusion that about35 percent of their teams are properly skilled to carry out their responsibilities, whereas the remainingnearly two-thirds of their teams require additional skills, knowledge, and development.This is a key challenge for storage managers because it underscores the very real skills gap in theirteams. Sub-optimal skills yield sub-optimal storage deployment. On the other hand, a well skilledteam will lead to higher productivity, better deployment and management of technology, and optimizationof the number of professionals required.Figure 10 illustrates the overall rating of the storage teams against the identified tasks and responsibilities(Table 3). Strong, moderate, and weak bars indicate the level of expertise within the overallstorage team in the represented companies.ArchivalSecurityMaintain SLAsDRReportingReplicationVendor AssessmentsCapacity PlanningMonitoringProvisioningIntegrations and ApplicationsBackup/RecoveryManage ImplementationsDesign Storage Infrastructure0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Strong Moderate WeakFigure 10: Ability to execute tasks—skill levels of storage professionals to carry out their tasks and activities11

SANB/RPlatformsNASRemote ReplicationLocal ReplicationCASIP-SANVisualization0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Strong Moderate WeakFigure 11: Competence by storage technology segmentsFigure 11 maps skill sets of the storage teams against the important technology segments. Skilllevels of the teams in SAN, backup/recovery, and storage subsystems are rated high, while skills inNAS, remote replication, local replication, etc. are rated low. A correlation between ability to executetasks (as shown in Figure 10) and competence in relevant technology segment (from Figure 11) willpaint a clear picture of the effective competence of the storage group. Detailed assessment of eachindividual within the group is required to ascertain strengths and weaknesses for each task andrelated technology segment.4.4 Sources for Hiring and DevelopmentThe most significant challenge faced by IT and storage managers is the shortage of skilled storageprofessionals in the marketplace. In fact, lack of skilled storage professionals is the most seriousindustry challenge.Considering the aggressive hiring requirements and plans, the lack of skilled resources becomes aserious bottleneck. Figure 12 highlights the level of hiring requirements across the industry. Thehiring plans indicate a growth of more than 25 percent of existing staff, requiring hiring, training,and deploying capable storage professionals.Storage ManagersStorage AdministratorsStorage ArchitectsBC AdministratorsBR AdministratorsOthers26%28%31%22%21%39%0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800Current To HireFigure 12: Hiring requirements for the next 12 months12

Hire ExperiencedInternal AppointmentHire CertifiedEngage ConsultantsHire New College GraduateFigure 13 shows the preferred hiring options. The majority of the managers prefer to hire experiencedprofessionals to reduce the learning period and reduce risks associated with hiring new employees.The next best alternative is to hire well trained and certified individuals.0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%% of ManagersFigure 13: Managers’ preference for hiring or acquiring storage skillsWith the shortage of skilled manpower in the industry, capable, experienced, skilled individualsare usually not available for hiring. Major factors for this skills shortage include lack of storagetechnology education in the marketplace and in academia. EMC has taken the lead and successfullyintroduced storage technology curriculum (and certification) in several universities as well as in theopen market via public classes. A lot more needs to be done to convert this industry-wide bottleneckinto lucrative employment opportunities for aspiring professionals.Given that there are very limited numbers of certified or well skilled storage professionals in themarket, managers frequently resort to internal recruitment. Often the internal recruitment involvesmoving an existing valuable employee who has a different expertise (such as operating systems,databases, etc.), but has very limited knowledge about storage technology.On the Job TrainingVendor TrainingSelf DevelopmentCertification TrainingSpecialist Storage TrainersIT Training CompaniesInhouse Training0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%% of Managers & ProfessionalsFigure 14: Most trusted training sources for development of storage skillsOn-the-job training, technology vendor training, and self-development by reading manuals, etc. arepreferred sources of storage training and development, followed by training for certifications andtraining provided by independent IT training companies.On-the-job training, technology vendor training, and self-development by reading manuals typicallycover usage and management of products and technology that is either already implemented or is inthe process of being implemented. In addition, there is a need for wider and deeper training focusingon underlying technology concepts, planning, designing, and managing. This will enable the storageprofessionals to independently and more efficiently design and deploy storage infrastructures, fullyleveraging the capabilities of all applicable storage technology segments.13

4.5 Storage Group Skills ModelAnother important aspect to consider is breadth and depth of knowledge and skills required to performthe storage-related functions effectively. There is a need for a well defined skills model whichcan be applied to both development and deployment of expertise in the group.At the very least, three distinct requirements can be identified (represented as the Skills Pyramid inFigure 15).Foundations: Required for all members of the team. Strong understanding of underlying technicalconcepts across all information storage technology segments is a must to be able to:1. Fully understand available technology in each segment2. Design and manage the end-to-end lifecycle of information/data from creation to archiving3. Make accurate technology decisions while designing information infrastructure for criticalprocessing environmentsAdvancedcross-technologyapplicationexpertise• Application integrated storage infrastructure• Expert-level knowledge to maximize• Performance and availabilitySpecialization basedon deploymed technologyand assignments• Align to assignments and responsibilities• In-depth skills in selected technologysegments(s)Build strong foundationacross all storage technology segments• Technology concepts & principals• All storage techology segmentsFigure 15: Storage Group Skills PyramidSpecialization: Advancements in technology and the rapid introduction of highly sophisticatedsolutions have made it nearly impossible for “everyone in the team to be expert at everything.”The number of individuals and their specialties can be assigned based upon the assignmentrequirements (such as storage administration and management or planning and designing) andtechnology deployed in the infrastructure (storage-subsystems, SAN, NAS, CAS, replication, backup/recovery, etc).Formal specialization assignments will also help address the development needs for nearly twothirdsof the existing workforce.Expertise Development: Depending upon deployed technology and application environments, anumber of experts may be required in the storage group. Two distinct focus areas can be identifiedfor expertise development:• Deeper knowledge of deployed products and technology will help maximize performance andavailability• Ability to integrate technology with applications (databases, e-mail systems, etc.) will help deploywell integrated solutions14

5. Recommendations and ConclusionsFrom the perspective of data availability and protection, information storage infrastructure is themost critical component of an overall IT infrastructure. It plays a critical role in making applicationswork efficiently, both locally and across multiple sites. With the increasing complexity and criticalityof storage, highly skilled and focused storage groups are as mission-critical as the technology beingdeployed.This study underscores a widening knowledge and skills gap in this mission-critical industry.Very aggressive hiring requirements is possibly the most important challenge faced by the managerstoday, which becomes even more challenging considering the shortage of experienced or certifiedprofessionals.Nearly two-thirds of the storage professionals employed today require additional knowledge andskills to perform their responsibilities efficiently. This is an important revelation.Due to lack of comprehensive storage technology education in the industry, most of the currentlydeployed professionals have relied on on-the-job training, vendor product training, and selfdevelopment.Though probably adequate for day-to-day administration, however, the ability to makeinformed strategic decisions and to proactively plan, design, and manage storage infrastructure ishampered by a lack of broad and deep knowledge.Well constructed, comprehensive, and strategic plans must be efficiently implemented to meet thechallenges of managing multi-site, multi-vendor environments.• Companies without formal and focused storage management groups must evaluate this missioncriticalrequirement.• Companies with dedicated storage teams must carefully analyze skills requirements and currentskill levels in their teams.• Companies must develop specialized experts in each of the storage technology segments they havedeployed.• Storage technology vendors should develop knowledge and skills in the industry when theyintroduce new technologies.• Leading universities, colleges, and training providers must include storage technology courses intheir curricula to offer their graduates career opportunities in this high-growth industry. The nextgeneration of IT professionals, or anyone looking for a different career path, have a great opportunityto earn the skills and meet the demands in this high-growth, dynamic environment.15

About the AuthorsAlok Shrivastava is responsible for technologyeducation, certification, and programs within EMCEducation Services. Key areas of his responsibilityinclude technical training and field readiness,EMC Proven Professional Certification, internalcommunications and program management,new product readiness, Storage Technologist‘Open’ Training and Certification, EMC LearningPartner Program, and the EMC Academic AllianceProgram. Prior to joining the Education Servicesteam in 2003, Mr. Shrivastava was responsible forbuilding and leading a strong sales engineeringteam for the EMC Asia-Pacific/Japan region. Inhis nearly 25-year professional career, he hasbeen an application developer, storage manager,systems manager, pre- and post-sales consultant,sales engineering manager, and director of thesales engineering function at the regional level.Somasundaram Gnanasundaram (Somu) isresponsible for the Industry Education and Certification(IEC) initiative at EMC to address the storageknowledge “gap” that exists in the industry.Key areas of his responsibility include deciding onthe most appropriate training offerings, identifyingand partnering with key IT training providers,and setting overall direction for the initiative.Prior to his current role, Somu was responsible forbuilding and leading a team of systems engineersand project managers in EMC South Asia. In his20-year professional career, Somu has been asystems engineer, sales engineering manager,and services sales manager.6. EMC’s Response and InitiativesEMC Education Services conducted this study to identify challenges faced by managers in the storageindustry and ways to address these challenges.The following key initiatives offer options for storage managers and professionals to acquire orimprove their skills to benefit their organizations:Education Solutions• ‘Open’ Storage Technology Curriculum– Unique offering in the industry; leads with concepts and principles– Covers all segments of Information Storage and Management Technology– Adapted by several universities– Public classes by independent training providers for non-EMC users• EMC Technology-Specific Learning Paths– Help leverage extensive capabilities of EMC technology and solutions– Comprehensive coverage for all segments of EMC technology– Prepare for EMC Proven Professional Certification• EMC Proven Professional Certification Program– Formal validation and recognition– Option of ‘Open’ and/or more than 10 EMC technology specialties– Exclusive Knowledge Maintenance and Sharing featureAll of the above education solutions are available globally via EMC Education Services to EMC’scustomers, partners, and employees.In an attempt to help address the widening knowledge gap in the industry, the following exclusiveprograms have been introduced which enable non-EMC users as well as university students to takeadvantage of the ‘open’ storage technology curriculum to build a successful career in this highgrowthindustry.EMC Academic Alliance Program• ‘Open’ information storage and management curriculum for students in colleges and universities,targeted to help build a highly skilled pool of future storage managers and professionals.• Introduced in mid-2006, the program has helped establish alliances with large number ofuniversities in several countries.EMC Learning Partner Program‘Open’ storage technology curriculum, offered by leading, independent IT training companies,designed to build or improve storage technology skills leading to better design and managementof efficient storage infrastructures.For more information on the programs, offerings, alliances and partnerships, visit www.EMC.com/training.Alok ShrivastavaSenior Director (Education Services)EMC Global ServicesEMC CorporationShrivastava_alok@EMC.comSomasundaram GnanasundaramDirector – Industry EducationEMC Global ServicesEMC CorporationSomasundaram_g@EMC.com16

EMC CorporationHopkintonMassachusetts01748-91031-508-435-1000In North America 1-866-464-7381www.EMC.comContact UsOnline: www.EMC.com/traininghttp://education.EMC.comE-mail: EdServices@EMC.comPhone: 888-EMC-TRNG (888-362-8764)International: EMEA_Education@EMC.com+44 208 758 6080 (UK)+49 6196 4728 666 (Germany)APEducation@EMC.com+61 2 9922 7888 (ANZ)+65 6333 6200 (South Asia)Japan_Education@EMC.com+81 3 3345 5900 (Japan)Korea_Education@EMC.com+82 22125 7503 (Korea)EMC 2 , EMC, and where information lives are registered trademarks and EMC Proven is a trademark of EMC Corporation. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. © Copyright 2008 EMC Corporation.All rights reserved. Published in the USA. EMC Perspective H2159.2