The Hindu Business Line : EMC, NIIT tie up for storage tech training

HONING SKILLS: (From left) Mr G. Raghavan, President, Individual Learning Business, NIIT; Mr Vijay. K. Thadani, CEO; Mr Tom Clancy, Vice-President, EMC Corp; and Mr Manoj Chugh, Country Manager, EMC - India and SAARC; at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. - S. Subramanium

Bangalore March 20 EMC Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with NIIT to offer advanced level of education and certification on storage technologies in India and 31 other countries worldwide, where NIIT has its network.

This will be the first such global alliance signed by EMC.

According to the company, training and certification will remain product-agnostic. Latest tools, technical resources and open curricula on emerging storage technologies will be provided by EMC.

"Information storage and management is among the top concern areas for organisations globally. Rapid information growth; multiple storage technologies and solutions; and regulatory compliance pressures have further increased complexity. EMC is committed to help the industry and academia bridge the emerging storage technology knowledge gap," said Mr Tom Clancy, Vice-President, Education Services and Productivity, EMC Corporation.

As per industry estimates, the booming information market is expected to create a demand of 1 million new storage professionals by 2012 globally.

According to NIIT CEO, Mr Vijay K. Thadani, "This global partnership with EMC will enable to prepare thousands of professionals to fulfil the ever increasing demand for talent in this area, worldwide."

"India is among the fastest growth markets for information storage in Asia-Pacific but skills shortage could negatively impact the growth. This partnership will help create a proficient storage workforce to meet the growing needs of our customers, partners and industry at large. Additionally a specialisation in this emerging discipline will provide a competitive edge to technology professionals both in the Indian and global markets," said Mr Manoj Chugh, Country Manager, EMC, India and SAARC.

Initially, NIIT will offer the new storage programme under its `Edgeineers Series' aimed at engineering students and working professionals. The courses will be mapped to international certifications in this field — EMCSTA, EMCST and EMCSTe. These courses will also be incorporated into NIIT's career programmes such as NetworkLABS, in due course.

In India, the programmes will be made available at 50 NIIT centres, in the first phase. EMC has also tied up with over 40 academic institutes in the country, including IIIT-B.