Nexenta announces new higher ed program; partners with CSE department

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nexenta, the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage (OpenSDS), today announced a new Higher Education Program that encourages partnerships with universities to develop technical curricula to better prepare undergrad STEM students for the workforce. By building on the solid foundation of software engineering and computer science curricula, and adding advanced courses with both academic value and substantial “real world” applicability, Nexenta and partner universities will provide graduates with exceptional tools as they enter the workplace. The program’s charter member is the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado (CU) Denver, which is expected to be closely followed by San Jose State University.

“Universities like CU Denver are known for preparing undergrads for the workplace, but they can’t do this alone,” said Eric Ray, Director of Platform Development at Nexenta, who is spearheading the Higher Ed program. “Bridging the knowledge gap between what they learn in college and real world practices is essential to their success. These schools are doing an excellent job of laying the groundwork. It’s up to industry to do our part to link theory with practice, provide the tools and infrastructure to round out the curriculum, and set the stage for tomorrow’s software innovators.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the job outlook (2012-2022) for software developers is expected to grow 22 percent, well above the 11 percent growth for all categories. One of the factors driving this demand for software talent is the wider deployment of software-defined solutions as the virtualization and automation of the entire operating environment—server, storage and network—is more readily adopted by enterprises.

“We’re excited to give students an edge before they reach the workforce by teaching them how to approach technology based on the needs of today’s enterprises,” said Gita Alaghband, Ph.D., professor and chair of Computer Science and Engineering at CU Denver. “Companies are deploying cloud-based virtual technology that’s very different from what was common even a year ago. Nexenta’s knowledge of open source and software-defined technology should help our students to gain a higher level of expertise, so as new storage engineers, they can hit the ground running when they start their first jobs.”

Initially, CU Denver will offer an advanced storage technology-focused course for exceptional undergraduate students and graduate students, entitled “Computer Storage Systems,” that will be taught by Doug McCallum, former storage engineer with Oracle and Sun Microsystems, in the spring semester, which begins Jan. 19, 2016. Courses to be offered by San Jose State University are currently under development.