Ross Cochrane told CRN, the virtualisation trend in the data centre will extend to the storage infrastructure.
"We see significant opportunities for integration services to be sold alongside the hardware and software components of the deal," he said.
"Membership of SNIA will allow Express Data access to research and materials relating to the storage market and the technologies involved in delivering solutions.
"We will have access to training and the opportunity to utilise speakers from SNIA to help us keep the channel informed of storage innovations and trends."
He said ED believes that it can introduce many of its channel partners to SNIA and in the end build a community which represents all of the channel constituents who become involved in the delivery of solutions to the end user marketplace.
"Shared understanding, higher levels of professionalism and strong partnering opportunities can all flow from being involved with SNIA," said Cochrane.
The A/NZ chapter of SNIA is aligned to the international Storage Networking Industry Association which has more than 400 member companies throughout the world.
SNIA A/NZ is a not-for-profit association funded by membership subscriptions.
Its aim is to enable end-users to obtain non-biased information regarding storage and networking.
Due to its neutrality, SNIA has adopted the role of industry catalyst for the development of storage solution specifications and technologies, global standards, and storage education.