Toigo Takes on SNIA

Most enterprise users of storage networking technology would probably agree that this is a chaotic and confusing space -- but will another trade organization or another analyst firm solve the problem? Industry veteran Jon William Toigo certainly thinks so. Next week, he'll be launching one of each.

Of course, not any old organization will do for the man dubbed by some as "Two Egos." Toigo has formed the Data Management Institute (DMI), which he says will look out for the best interests of users instead of focusing on vendors, unlike the Goliath of storage trade groups, Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA).

"We wanted to create an environment where end users could interact," Toigo says. He claims his new project isn't meant to compete directly with SNIA, but rather to complement it. "I'm hoping at some point we'll have a very synergetic relationship," he says. "They do a great job at what they do, but they don't represent the end user. They represent the industry."

The membership fee for joining the DMI will be about $1,000 a year, he says.

Meanwhile, Warren Smith, the marketing chair at SNIA and head of strategic marketing network storage solutions at Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), is quick to point out that SNIA has created a number of customer-focused organizations, including the Consumer Executive Council, the Customer Advisory Council, and StorageNetworking.org, a recently established joint initiative with the Information Storage Industry Center at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). "The industry certainly needs to address the end user," he says (see Users Get Their Say).