More Than 1,000 Colleges And Universities To Date Have Joined With EMC To Close Technology Skills Gap

HOPKINTON, Mass., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

News Summary:

• Through the EMC Academic Alliance program, now more than 1,000 colleges and universities worldwide are using EMC-developed courseware to prepare the next generation of IT professionals for careers in information infrastructure, cloud computing and Big Data analytics. 
• EMC was one of the first to address the cloud and data science skills gap by offering open, vendor-agnostic training and certification programs to educate students and IT professionals in information infrastructure technologies for the evolving IT landscape.
• The 6^th EMC-sponsored IDC Digital Universe study, "Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows and Biggest Growth in the Far East"¹ projects that by 2020, the number of servers will grow 10x and information managed by enterprise data centers will grow 14x, yet the number of IT professionals will grow by a factor of less than 1.5, creating a huge technology skills gap, which EMC is helping to fill.

Full Story:

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced that, to date, more than 1,000 academic institutions have joined the EMC^® Academic Alliance (EAA) program, which provides universities worldwide with technology curricula to educate and transform the next generation of IT and data science professionals, and help meet the industry's growing demand for advanced technology skills. 

With more than 85,000 EMC Proven^TM Professional certifications worldwide, EMC is providing current IT professionals with the skills to adapt for the future, and the capabilities needed to successfully implement transformational technologies in their organizations. Now more than 1,000 colleges and universities have adopted EMC's "open" curriculum, allowing today's students to develop the leading-edge skills to become the next generation of IT and data science professionals. The EMC Academic Alliance provides faculty with free training and resources to teach information infrastructure technologies.       

EMC was one of the first companies to offer open, vendor-agnostic cloud and data science training and certifications, based on industry standards, to address the lack of skilled professionals² that is hampering widespread adoption of transformational technologies.  According to the study "Managing Storage: Trends Challenges and Options 2012-2013," the lack of professionals with the necessary technology skills was cited as a key impediment in the adoption of cloud technologies, with nearly 65% of respondents stating that reskilling of their staff was necessary and only 18% stating their staff had the necessary skills in cloud technology.  To date, EMC training and certifications in cloud architecture, data science and Big Data analytics, information storage and management, and backup and recovery have been aggressively adopted by hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide, across both corporate and educational institutions, to help meet this need.

Through the EMC Academic Alliance program, more than 150,000 students in 60+ countries have completed courseware that prepares them to contribute to, and make informed decisions about, projects that range from storage networking, to cloud migration, to Big Data analytics. The combination of adoption across business and academia is helping to close the technology skills gap by growing the industry's current and future base of professionals equipped to understand, implement and maximize new technologies in the evolving IT landscape.  EMC's education curriculum is conveniently offered in a number of modes for classroom or self-paced learning. As another means of educating the marketplace, EMC's Information Storage and Management textbook, referred to by publisher John Wiley and Sons as an "unparalleled bestseller," was recently revised and issued in a new second edition.

The technology skills gap is highlighted in the new EMC-sponsored IDC Digital Universe study, which reports that the digital universe is growing more quickly than expected and will hit 40 zettabytes (ZB) – or 40 trillion gigabytes (GB) – by 2020. Within that same timeframe, the number of servers will grow 10x and information managed by enterprise data centers will grow 14x, yet the number of IT professionals will grow by a factor of less than 1.5.  Even today, only 3% of potentially useful data is tagged, and even less is analyzed, causing the industry to face a divide that will continue to grow if left unaddressed.

Analyst Quote:

Mark Bowker, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc.

"In a November, 2012 survey of participants of cloud training/certification programs, conducted by ESG on behalf of EMC, 63% of all survey respondents said the most important technical skill for their personal career path over the next five years was cloud computing.  Yet, there is a well-demonstrated need for more professionals to develop this needed and desired competency.  Training and certification programs are an important path to building these skills, and in our research, 92% of all respondents stated that vendor-agnostic training is "critical," "very important" or "important" to this effort, and 90% said that it was "very important" or "important" to have course material based on industry standards. EMC's vendor-neutral, industry-standard-based cloud education and certification programs meet these important criteria and provide a valuable means for IT professionals to expand their skill set and help organizations realize the benefits of cloud computing.  EMC has taken an aggressive leadership position in providing education and certifications programs that help accelerate the adoption of leading-edge technologies."

Customer Quotes:

Lance Cleghorn, Graduate Student in Information and Computer Technology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

"I was involved with the EMC Academic Alliance since my sophomore year, and its courses definitely affected my career path and I think really gave me an edge.  I did an internship with the US Department of Defense and the knowledge that I got from the coursework really made me stand out with my superiors and my peers there.  After graduation I'll be returning to Ft. Meade, Maryland, where I'll work with the US Department of Defense in Information Assurance.  The EMC Academic Alliance has been a wonderful opportunity and I can't say how thankful I am that it is out there helping to give students like me an opportunity to exceed expectations and really stand out in the job market."

See a video of Lance Cleghorn discussing his experiences with the EMC Academic Alliance

Paul Delvy, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Management Science and Information Systems, University of Massachusetts, Boston

 "There is no question that there is a shortage of skilled professionals to manage large amounts of data, and it is critical that universities and corporations partner together to address and fill this need, as neither can fill this gap alone.  For the past three years, University of Massachusetts, Boston has participated in EMC's Academic Alliance program to teach students critical skills they will need to support business and industries as well as advance their own careers. The EMC-developed curriculum presents generic solutions to information storage and management needs and exposes meaningful examples showing state-of-the-art equipment, an approach that helps close the knowledge gap between theoretical and practical applications. The coursework has proven popular and offers a significant level of insight to our students."

See a video of Paul Delvy discussing his experiences participating in the EMC Academic Alliance

Dr. M. Ponnavaiko, Vice Chancellor, SRM University, Chennai, India

"For more than four years, SRM University has offered the EMC Academic Alliance curriculum to our students. This has allowed them to learn and acquire the most important new technology skills, including cloud computing. It is important for universities to ensure their students develop the next-generation skills demanded by employers, and the EMC Academic Alliance curriculum has played a very important role in helping SRM University do this successfully. The EAA Program makes sure our students are ready with the necessary education to help fill the Industry-Academia skills gap."

EMC Executive Quote:

Howard Elias, President and COO, EMC Information Infrastructure and Cloud Services

"The careers of tomorrow, in areas like cloud architecture and data science, require that we invest in developing people with the skills required to fill those roles. That means working with our customers, our industry, and within academia to help close the skills gap and maximize the potential of technologies such as cloud computing and big data analytics. EMC believes deeply that our success, and that of our customers, is dependent upon innovation and our growing network of Academic Alliance schools, as well as our professional certification programs, are leading the way with their innovative curricula."

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about EMC Education Solutions,  EMC Proven Professional Program and EMC Academic Alliance
• Join the Academic Alliance Facebook community with half a million fans and growing!
• Join the @EMCEducation, @EMCAcademics, @EMCProven, @EMCGS and #DigitalUniverse conversations on Twitter
• Connect with EMC via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and ECN

About EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

¹IDC Digital Universe Study, sponsored by EMC, December 2012

²A recent article in Harvard Business Review, "There's No Panacea for the Big Data Talent Gap," cites a recent study that shows although 70% of respondents plan to hire data scientists, 76% of these said it was "Challenging," "Very difficult," or "Impossible"  to find or hire sufficient resources.

EMC and EMC Proven are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE EMC Corporation