Mario Apicella, Direct Technology Product Validation Service, Storage Strategies NOW

Storage Strategies NOW, a storage specialty analyst firm providing realistic solutions for today’s data centers, announced its Technology and Product Validation (TPV) Service. Mario Apicella, well-known technology journalist and test center analyst, joins with SSG-NOW as director of the TPV Lab and services. TPV will focus on server and storage networking technology to provide SSG-NOW clients with objective, third party analysis and product validation reports. The new service offers rigorous product test and evaluation, measuring performance to validate reliability and scalability, assessing the use and value of the applied technology.

"TPV analysis reports will answer key engineering questions to confirm whether a product performs to design specifications and meets the requirements for its market purpose," said Deni Connor, SSG-NOW founder and principal analyst. "As we mark the first anniversary of the firm, I am pleased to have Mario join in opening the TPV Service. I know that the scope of his experience over many years in IT and as a respected test analyst will give companies authoritative reporting to guide their product development and market strategies."

Apicella combines ten years reviewing storage and server systems in the publishing industry with decades of hands-on IT and managerial experience, selecting and deploying solutions for manufacturing and banking companies. The mix of experience gives him a unique point of view, bringing together journalistic objectivity with a business conscious, analytical expertise.

"From our experience, end users look for Lab Validation as a way to educate themselves on various storage and storage-related products, systems and solutions. End users need hands-on insight in order to make better purchasing decisions," said Chris Drago, director of communications, Pillar Data Systems. "Effective third party perspective is invaluable and we look forward to working with Storage Strategies NOW to help validate what our customers have been telling us recently, the Pillar Axiom is the most efficient storage system in the industry today."

SSG-NOW Analyst Reports
SSG-NOW independent reports provide IT business and technology leaders market insight through ‘Snapshots’ that objectively assess the solution stake in the market, and through in-depth analysis ‘Outlook Reports,’ identifying market opportunities for current products and technology solutions.

SSG-NOW Market Commentary
Connor writes Network World‘s twice weekly ‘Storage Alert’ newsletter, as well as articles for Storage Magazine, TechTarget’s SearchDataBackup.com and other notable industry publications.

SSG-NOW Coverage Areas
From SMB to global enterprise, SSG-NOW delivers analysis to help clients solve problems with current storage and systems technologies. IT coverage areas include:

• energy-efficient data center solutions
• data protection strategies
• consolidation
• through virtualization, etc.
• compliance, e-mail archiving, e-discovery