Paul Massiglia

Company Represented While Actively Involved with the SNIA:

Veritas Software Corporation, Technical Director

Current Company:

agámi Systems, Inc., Chief Technology Strategist

Years with the SNIA:

Founding through present (with a small hiatus in 2004-05)

Committees, Forums, Initiatives, Board Seats Held at the SNIA:

“Friend of the Board”
BoD Member
Education Committee Chair
Originator of the Tutorial and Certification Programs

Fondest Memories of the SNIA:

The founding meeting in Colorado Springs and sparring with Michael Peterson and Barbara Bardach over the wording of the mission statement (I have never in my life read anything I didn’t think I could write better—good thing I wasn’t alive in William Shakespeare’s time!).

The nascent SNW conferences in Seattle and Albuquerque—how far we have come!
In general, watching the organization develop from a bunch of people getting together every couple of months to a driving force in the storage industry. Today, it’s kind of an imperative for any company associated with data storage to belong to the SNIA—it’s that important.

Proudest Moments while Active with the SNIA:

• Being privileged to spend three days at Infinity I/O in Half Moon Bay watching some real experts vet the very first certification exam (even if I did have to make some frantic phone calls to get them there. Again, how far we have come!
• Being crammed into the tiny conference room at Veritas UK with the entire BoD while Richard Barker presented the organization with its first large corporate donation check (from Veritas)
• Actually getting elected to the BoD (I was appointed at first). Wow! I didn't know you people cared!
• Meeting Brenda's family and watching Leo devour an entire ox in the aftermath of the (somewhat traumatic) 2001 SNW Europe conference, which opened on 9/11.
• Coming back after a two-year absence and seeing how the tutorial program has grown from its humble beginnings (6 tutorials in Seville, with me falling asleep in the front row while SW droned on about backup) to sixty-plus, and people clamoring to submit more.

SNIA's Greatest Achievements:

I think the organization’s greatest achievement has been an intangible one—establishing the legitimacy of networked storage as a bona fide technology, industry, and market segment. This has been accomplished through many vehicles, including the SNW conferences, the standards activities, and the tie-ins with other standards organizations, the certification program, the Forums/Initiatives, and probably others I’m forgetting. Today, the organization spends time thinking about how its mission should evolve, but nobody questions whether there is a mission.