xiv IBM SONAS Best Practices
Bill Marshall is a Linux subject matter expert (SME) in Rochester, MN in Strategic
Outsourcing, IBM Global Technology Services® (GTS). He has a master’s degree in
computer science from Iowa State University. Bill has expertise in the areas of Linux, file
serving (including Samba), and in-depth experience with Microsoft Windows and Linux
interoperability. Bill has worked on Linux since 2001, and is certified as an IBM Expert IT
Specialist. Bill’s areas of interest include automation and scripting, distributed file systems
(DFS), and kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) virtualization.
Gabor Penzes is an IT Specialist and a certified Storage Networking Industry Association
(SNIA) Storage Specialist working for IBM STG Lab Services in Hungary. He worked for IBM
for six years, doing consulting and implementing pSeries (IBM AIX®) and Storage projects
with IBM customers in various industries. Gabor also possesses an extensive background in
Information Security disciplines, and worked with UNIX-based systems for over 10 years. He
graduated from the University of Pecs in Pecs, Hungary.
Ravikumar Ramaswamy is an Advisory Software Engineer with IBM India software labs in
Pune, India, and holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of
Mumbai. Ravikumar has 14 years of experience in IT, most of which has been in storage and
networking. He is currently working as a SONAS L3 support engineer, and is involved in
various customer engagements in the Growth Markets Unit (GMU). Ravikumar also serves as
a Lab advocate for SONAS customers. Before his current assignment, Ravikumar worked in
IBM General Parallel File System (IBM GPFS™) functional verification test (FVT) for Linux on
IBM System z®, and SONAS regression testing. He has experience with networking
technologies, including Network management, and domain name server (DNS) and Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) implementation.
Joe Roa is an XIV and SONAS Solutions Architect working for IBM STG from upstate New
York. Joe has over 25 years of experience in UNIX Server environments and Enterprise-level
Storage and Data Protection. He has extensive experience in real world applications on
Enterprise-level Block and File Storage. His career spans 14 years of technical leadership in
the US Marine Corps, and over 15 years in corporate america Enterprise IT with UNIX and
Storage systems. Joe holds a degree in Electronics Engineering and works primarily on
SONAS and XIV platforms. He is also helping companies worldwide to solve IT storage
problems with IBM storage solutions.
John Sing is an Executive IT Consultant with IBM STG, with 30 years in the IT industry. John
is a world-recognized IBM expert, speaker, and strategist in the areas of large SONAS, big
data and modern analytics, IT strategy and planning, and IT high availability (HA) and
business continuity. Since 2001, John has been an integral member of the IBM System
Storage worldwide planning and support organizations. He brings his field experience in
large-scale IT from 18 years in IBM sales, marketing, and engineering. His experience
includes four years in overseas growth markets, IBM Hong Kong S.A.R. of the PRC, and IBM
China from 1994 to 1998. Returning to the US in 1998, John joined the IBM Enterprise
Storage Server® Planning team for Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC), Extended Remote
Copy (XRC, now known as IBM z/OS Global Mirror), and IBM FlashCopy®. He was the
marketing manager for these products. In 2002, he began working in business continuity and
IT strategy and planning. In 2009, John took on an additional role as an IBM Storage
Strategist and Technical Lead in the IBM SONAS, big data, and cloud storage arenas.