Impacting the Field of Convergence Technology
College of Engineering and Information Technology professor Timur Mirzoev, Ph.D. is leading the way in the ever-expanding world of cloud-computing and virtualization education and research.
Mirzoev is a co-principal investigator of a $4.4 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to the Collin College Convergence Technology Center in Frisco, Tx., for tech-related workforce training. Georgia Southern is one of seven colleges and universities partnered with the Center on the NSF grant. The goal of the Center is to provide training for faculty and students in the high-demand field of emerging convergence technology in voice, video, image and data over secure networks.
The grant will capitalize on the resources offered through Georgia Southern’s International VMware IT Academy Center and EMC Academic Alliance, as well as Mirzoev’s certification as a VMware Certified Instructor (VCI). Mirzoev leads the University’s Center and has the distinction of being the only VCI in the world that holds a Ph.D. and works in higher education. His worldwide training programs include professors, military officials and even FBI agents. “VMware is a very popular choice for government and the military, because it provides great efficiency and excellent ROI. However, virtualized data centers must have a completely secure and centralized shared storage for data. Storage is another major knowledge piece which our students get by participating in the EMC Academic Alliance program,” he said.
VMware is a software company that offers cloud computing and virtualization solutions, which maximize unused capacity in computer servers and help companies reduce costs. “The software creates an efficient IT environment for a company, and different operating systems are run on a single server,” said Mirzoev. One hundred percent of the Fortune 1000 use VMware products, and Georgia Southern students have the opportunity to earn a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification, providing an excellent opportunity to expand their job prospects.
“In addition to our students who are graduating with VCP or EMC certifications, Georgia Southern helps other college and university professors around the world to offer the same training and teach cutting-edge virtualization technology to their own students,” he said.
Mirzoev also heads the University’s cloud-computing research lab, which has 1.2 terabytes of RAM dedicated to running virtual machines for research and classes. The lab consists of 100-percent commercial equipment, allowing Mirzoev and his students to conduct research on server and network storage virtualization with practical, real-world applications.
“Our equipment at Georgia Southern is going to provide cloud resources to institutions that wish to teach VMware and EMC classes,” he said. “The field of IT is constantly changing, and our work on this grant through the VMware Academy and EMC Academic Alliance allows us to be the leaders in IT education.”
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