SCIENCE & ENGINEERING NEWS
San Francisco, CA — The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) announced its SANmark Qualification and Trademark Licensing Program. The FCIA’s new program will take SAN and storage product interoperability to the next level of fibre channel integration.
The SANmark program is designed for Fibre Channel manufacturers or independent laboratories to verify compliance among products from multiple vendors. The goal of the SANmark program is to ensure multi-vendor conformance to common network operation that promotes robust, heterogeneous Fibre Channel networks. Vendors who successfully complete the certification program will be “SANmarked.”
“This qualification and certification program will provide numerous benefits to the industry including, time to market, easier implementation and configuration and lower development costs,” said David Deming, FCIA president. “The FCIA is the driving force behind defining and helping to standardize SAN Interoperability.”
SANmark and any associated logos developed in conjunction with it, will designate Fibre Channel products that comply with a high level of quality. Under the qualification and licensing program, FCIA members and non-members alike who sell Fibre Channel products may enter into license agreements with the FCIA.
All such licensees must comply with the trademark usage guidelines set forth in the SANmark Style Guide and use the SANmark trademarks only in connection with products that comply with the quality standards set by the Association.
Furthermore, the FCIA will post the SANmark Style Guide to signify standards for SANmark qualified products on the FCIA Web site. In addition, the association will distribute the SANmark License Agreement to all FCIA members and non-members.
“The SANmark program puts the association one step closer to reaching total interoperability among all its member companies,” concluded Deming.
The FCIA will present the SANmark qualification and certification applications and packages at this year’s FCIA Annual Meeting, Aug. 28-30 at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Beach, Calif.
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is an international organization of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers, systems vendors, industry professionals, and end users. With more than 190 members and affiliates in the United States, Europe and Japan, the FCIA is committed to delivering a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure to support a wide array of industry applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas.
FCIA Working Groups focus on specific aspects of the technology that target both vertical and horizontal markets, including storage, video, networking and SAN Management. For information, contact the Fibre Channel Industry Association at http://www.fibrechannel.org .
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