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Network Appliance, Inc. -
Computer Storage - Category Main Page
(408)
822-6000
495
East Java Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
www.netapp.com
Sales
$1.2
billion
Business Description
Network Appliance, Inc. (“NetApp”), provides enterprise network storage and
data management solutions. NetApp® network storage solutions and service
offerings provide data-intensive enterprises with consolidated storage,
improved data center operations, economical business continuance, and
efficient remote data access. Network Appliance’s success to date has been
in delivering highly cost-effective network storage solutions that reduce
the complexity associated with conventional storage solutions. Our goal is
to provide products that set the standard for simplicity and ease of
operation, with what we believe to be one of the lowest total costs of
ownership (TCO) and highest returns on investment (ROI) in the industry.
Network ApplianceTM solutions are the data management and storage foundation
for leading enterprises, government agencies, and universities worldwide.
Network Appliance was founded in 1992 with the goal of simplifying data
access by creating the world’s first network storage appliance. The first
system was shipped in 1993. Today Network Appliance is a multinational
corporation with over 2,800 employees and an installed base of products in
over 100 countries.
Network Appliance focuses on “simplifying the complex.” This philosophy
drives the entire company, from product design and system operation through
support processes. This results in significant customer advantages,
including:
• Lower total cost of ownership, in part because system administrators can
more efficiently manage much greater amounts of information, and also
because recovery times are significantly reduced in the event of a disaster
or data corruption.
• Business agility, by improving our customers’ ability to react quickly to
changes via rapid deployment or reconfiguration of storage assets.
• Improved information availability, due to increased reliability.
• Improved application performance, enabling customers to advance their
time-to-market goals and create new revenue-generating opportunities.
• Business continuance via online rapid restore and disaster recovery
deployments.
• Satisfying customers’ growing regulatory compliance requirements with our
comprehensive software and solutions.
Customer Challenges
Network Appliance enterprise network storage solutions directly address the
major information technology challenges that enterprises face —
consolidating rapidly growing quantities of storage, reducing costs
associated with data center operations, ensuring business continuance, and
managing data throughout the globally distributed enterprise.
• Storage consolidation. Managing the explosive growth of data is one of the
greatest challenges enterprises face today. Network Appliance gives
enterprises the scalable solutions they need to consolidate storage from
hundreds or thousands of servers and manage storage efficiently in a mixed
server environment.
• Data center operations. More than just applications and hardware, the data
center is the nerve center of an organization, controlling the flow of
information throughout the enterprise. Many of the costs that drive up the
total cost of information technology (IT) ownership are associated with data
center operations, and include tasks such as data backup and recovery,
hardware and software maintenance, performance management, and resource
allocation. Our simplified appliance architecture automates or eliminates
many of these administrative tasks, and delivers simple, centrally managed,
and flexible data storage that leverages and increases the performance of
existing IT infrastructures.
• Business continuance. Many enterprises are increasingly focused on
disaster preparedness and recovery and must avoid costly downtime in the
event of a major disaster or localized disruption. Minutes of downtime are
costly, and hours of downtime can be catastrophic. Working in tandem with
the existing network infrastructure (both Fibre Channel and Ethernet), our
storage appliances and data management software enable customers to
implement disaster recovery and data mirroring plans quickly and
effectively, while minimizing incremental telecommunications and
administration costs.
• Distributed enterprise. As enterprises grow, it becomes increasingly
difficult to provide timely information to remote locations and branch
offices, jeopardizing their productivity. NetApp products accelerate
information access and application performance while reducing bandwidth
costs, and also reduce the cost and complexity associated with managing the
data in these distributed offices. Our solutions enable enterprises to
quickly replicate and relay information to and from one or many locations,
fully protecting data in remote offices and locations.
• Regulatory Compliance. Regulatory compliance is a growing concern for
every industry. Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Patriot Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley
affect all U.S. based companies. Furthermore, industry specific businesses
are affected by such regulatory acts such as Rule 17(a)(4) of the Securities
and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which relates to preservation of
certain records by certain exchange members as well as brokers and dealers,
as well as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and
several government defense requirements. NetApp offers compliance solutions
designed to address such regulations and the need for data permanence,
security, and confidentiality while reducing business risks and improving
information access.
A Solution-Based Approach
To meet these customer challenges, Network Appliance offers a growing number
of integrated solutions that address the specific data management hurdles
faced by our enterprise customers. These turnkey solutions, which include
hardware, software, service, and financing components, enable our customers
to simplify their storage management, leverage their existing
infrastructure, and increase their return on investment. The solutions that
have received the greatest level of interest to date include:
• Storage Consolidation: File sharing and messaging applications are
critical to successful enterprise operations. Network Appliance offers
highly available, scalable, and cost-effective storage consolidation
solutions that incorporate the NetApp unified storage platform and the
feature-rich functionality of data and resource management software to
improve storage utilization. By freeing up valuable infrastructure and staff
resources, Network Appliance storage consolidation solutions improve
enterprise productivity, performance, and profitability.
• Information Lifecycle Management (“ILM”): The Network Appliance open
approach to ILM enables the deployment a best-of-breed solution that matches
unique business requirements for information management and regulatory
compliance. Whether customers are looking at data protection, accessibility,
security, or compliance, NetApp enables customers to effectively align
storage resources for optimum performance and preservation while maintaining
costs despite growing needs for online data. With a common architecture and
open approach, NetApp ILM solutions simplify their environment and deliver
the ultimate in flexibility.
• Data Protection: Network Appliance data protection solutions offer the
ultimate data security in a heterogeneous environment, simplifying complex
backup and recovery tasks; reducing data storage requirements; ensuring
rapid, complete disaster recovery; and leveraging existing data protection
investments. Working with our customers to deliver a successful data
protection strategy, NetApp not only helps ensure that mission-critical data
is backed up, replicated, and accessible in this complex environment, but
also enables organizations to completely retrieve data after such unplanned
events as user error, system failure, and operational outages.
• Regulatory Compliance: The Network Appliance regulatory compliance
solution is designed to address growing regulatory concerns for data
permanence, security, and confidentiality while reducing business risks and
improving information access. In conjunction with partners, NetApp is
delivering comprehensive compliance solutions for customers across many
vertical markets and geographies. The results not only help satisfy
regulatory compliance requirements but also provide customers with unmatched
flexibility and immediate access to information while reducing costs. The
NetApp solution incorporates specialized software that delivers write once,
read many (“WORM”) data permanence capabilities and that stores critical
business records in a nonerasable, nonrewritable format across NetApp
systems, best-of-breed partner solutions, and services.
• Grid Computing: As the trend toward consolidating storage and serving a
variety of applications from a unified storage pool continues, we will
continue to provide solutions that will allow customers to more easily and
cost efficiently provision, access, manage, and share data across their
entire compute grid and user base. The combination of NetApp unified storage
and data management solutions with advanced distributed storage technologies
acquired from Spinnaker will further our strategy to deliver Storage Grid
solutions as the foundation for data infrastructures of the future. In the
near term, the Spinnaker acquisition will allow us to target markets with
customers who are already deploying such grid like architecture with
large-scale Linux® farms for high performance computing applications in
industry verticals like Energy, Entertainment and Federal Government. We
expect the NetApp Storage Grid to become the storage architecture of choice
for enterprises looking to run their IT infrastructures as a utility.
• Internet access and security: The Internet access and security solution
merges proxy caching and storage technologies to improve the secure access
and management of information and eliminate obstacles created by geography,
complexity, and resource limitations. In accomplishing this, NetApp reduces
costs, increases collaboration, and increases productivity.
Total Customer Experience
No matter what the solution, NetApp strives to simplify whenever possible,
utilizing open standards and driving industry collaboration, partnering with
other industry leaders, and providing world-class global service and
support.
• Simplicity. The NetApp appliance architecture allows enterprises to reduce
management overhead, decrease deployment times, and eliminate the downtime
typically associated with general-purpose architectures. Network Appliance
plans to continue to expand on the appliance architecture in future product
designs and service offerings.
• Open standards and industry collaboration. Network Appliance participates
in and leads many industry initiatives and organizations, such as the
Storage Networking Industry Association (“SNIA”), the Enterprise Grid
Alliance (“EGA”), that have defined standards that are widely deployed
today. Standards that Network Appliance has helped advance include the
Network File System (“NFS”) protocol for file access in UNIX® and Linux®
environments; the Common Internet File System (“CIFS”) protocol for file
access in Windows® environments; the Network Data Management Protocol (“NDMP”)
for simplifying backup of networked storage; the Internet Content Adaptation
Protocol (“ICAP”) for content adaptation in Web environments; the Direct
Access File System (“DAFS”) protocol for high-performance, high-throughput
access to data; and the Internet Small Computer System Interface (“iSCSI”)
protocol for building block-based storage area networks using widely
deployed Ethernet infrastructures. We plan to continue to participate in
driving emerging standards, including NFS version 4 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
• Business application integration and partnerships. Network Appliance’s
goal is to deliver complete network storage solutions to customers. Our
partners are vital to our success in this area, and we have significant
partner relationships with database and business application companies
including Dassault Systèmes, FileNet, several solutions from IBM including
DB2 and Lotus, Interwoven, IXOS/ OpenText, Landmark Graphics, Microsoft,
Openwave, Oracle, Rational, SAP, SAS, Sybase, UGS Corp, and Vignette. These
application partnerships enhance our ability to reduce implementation times,
increase application availability, and provide the highest level of solution
support to customers. Technology and infrastructure solution partners enable
seamless integration into customers’ existing environments, resulting in
lower costs and more rapid deployment. Our infrastructure partner list
includes ADIC, Atempo, Bakbone, Brocade, Cisco, Commvault, Computer
Associates, Egenera, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM
Tivoli, KVS, Legato, McData, Novell/ SuSE, NuView, Quantum/ ATL, Red Hat,
RLX Technologies, Spectra Logic, StorageTek, Symantec, Syncsort, and VERITAS.
• Global service and support. Network Appliance’s increasing number of
enterprise customers requires a global, integrated service-and-support
model. These requirements have been met by expanding efforts in professional
services and support offerings, as well as by continuing to develop
strategic partnerships. Our partnerships with service providers such as
Accenture, Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems (“EDS”),
Fujitsu Siemens Corporation and IBM Global Services allow us to better serve
customers by broadening service offerings, as well as leveraging existing
service and support relationships that customers may already have in place.
• Network Appliance Financial Solutions (“NAFS”), the customer finance group
for Network Appliance Inc., offers a variety of standard and tailored
financial products to help our customers acquire Network Appliance
solutions. NAFS offers financial programs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and
Asia-Pacific. Our financial product offerings are designed to help enhance
our customers’ ROI and reduce their TCO by providing competitive rates;
matching budgetary or cash flow requirements by spreading the payments out
over time; providing technology refresh options within the initial term; and
financing the entire solution including hardware, software, and services.
Classes of Data
NetApp products and solutions are based on the premise that not all data is
created equal. Enterprise customers face a significant challenge in
designing networked storage infrastructures that balance the availability
requirements of their applications and associated data with the cost of the
storage solution. Storing all data on an expensive, monolithic,
mainframe-class array is no longer acceptable and customers want to
carefully evaluate the value of their information. As a result, data is
being classified by availability and performance requirements in relation to
cost.
• Business-critical data. Business-critical applications, including
trading-floor applications and ERP systems, require the highest levels of
availability and reliability, have more dedicated management resources, and
exhibit the least amount of cost sensitivity. If this data is unavailable,
the business is typically not generating revenue and may incur other
financial penalties.
• Business operations data. This category includes data used by externally
visible business operations applications, including e-mail, customer support
applications, and external Web sites. If this data is unavailable, it may be
apparent to customers and prospects, impacting revenue and reflecting poorly
on the organization. As such, this data has higher reliability and
availability requirements, and typically requires more significant storage
infrastructure and data management software investments.
• Back office data. This class of data is accessed by internal employees,
and while the availability of the data is not important to customers outside
the business, it can have a big impact on the users of the data inside the
business. Examples of business internal data include corporate intranets, HR
systems, and data warehouses used for analytical purposes.
• Departmental and remote office data. Departmental and remote-office
deployments also require a low-cost solution, but typically need higher
levels of availability with low management overhead. Data in this class is
typically not used outside the department or remote office.
• Compliance data. These assets represent much of the corporate or personal
data related to conducting business, performing research, buying and selling
securities, or other mission-critical, fiduciary, or private activities.
This information, like any hard asset, needs to be protected, monitored,
maintained, exchanged, and secured.
• Reference data. Types of reference data include e-mail archives; bank,
brokerage, and billing statements; medical images and records; mechanical
computer aided design (“MCAD”) drawings; integrated chip designs; and
seismic and satellite data. Customers require fast data access at costs
comparable to much slower high-end tape or optical libraries, with minimal
ongoing management costs.
• Archive data. Enterprises require a low-cost storage solution for archive
data and backups, which have historically been stored on magnetic tape. Many
customers are now augmenting magnetic tape and storing these classes of data
on more flexible disk-based systems which reduces backup windows and enables
rapid recovery in the event of a disaster.
Network Appliance solutions meet the needs of archive, reference,
departmental/remote office, business internal, business operations, and
business critical data with a common product architecture and data
management methodology, enabling customers to easily deploy and manage all
their networked storage infrastructure in the same way.
System Products
NetApp products consist of fabric-attached storage (“FAS”) appliances, also
known as filers, NearStore® systems, NetCache® content delivery appliances,
the Data ONTAPTM operating system, our WAFL file management system, data
management and content delivery software, and NetApp Global Services. Our
configured appliances range in price from $4,000 to more than $1,000,000.
The NetApp solution runs on a common architecture across all NetApp systems,
allowing for optimal scalability and increased flexibility. Customers can
protect their existing investments and consolidate both compliance and
non-compliance-related data on a single platform, helping to simplify
compliance management and reduce storage costs. Through open standards,
NetApp helps ensure rapid application deployment and smooth integration into
its customers’ existing infrastructure. Our data management features help
provide you simple management, improved data protection, and reduced
operational costs.
All NetApp systems come packaged in rack-mountable enclosures that can be
installed in a customer’s existing server racks or can be factory-installed
and configured in cabinets. Our appliances are based primarily on commodity
hardware, including Intel® Pentium® processors, an advanced implementation
of the industry-standard PCI bus architecture, standard Ethernet adapters,
and either Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (“FC-AL”), Advanced Technology
Attachment (“ATA”), or Small Computer System Interface (“SCSI”) disk
interconnects.
Filers
NetApp filers are scalable, highly available, unified networked storage
systems for data storage and simplifying data management. They are
specifically designed for highly scalable, network-centric IT system
architectures, and support both network-attached storage (“NAS”) and
storage-attached networks (“SAN”) on a single, unified platform. Our filers
are designed for and deliver lower total cost of ownership than alternative
competitive systems. Heterogeneous data sharing allows our systems to
deliver simultaneous data access to Linux, UNIX, Windows, and Web-based
servers and clients, dramatically lowering the total cost of ownership and
management complexity versus homogeneous storage systems. Filers are
available in either single-node configurations or fully redundant,
active/active cluster configurations that provide high data availability for
business-critical environments.
Current filer products include:
• NetApp FAS 980c/ FAS980 enterprise servers. Introduced during fiscal year
2004 and built for the most demanding customers, the FAS980c is our
highest-performance filer. The FAS980c continues the NetApp tradition of
providing industry-leading performance in a simple, reliable, flexible, and
manageable system. The FAS980c is designed to accommodate thousands of
independent users and large, high-bandwidth applications. With the
capability of managing up to 64 TB of data in one system and 8TB in one file
system, the FAS980c can meet the storage demands of virtually any enterprise
— including iSCSI or FC SAN and NAS configurations. The NetApp clustered
filer architecture integrates multiple processors in an active/active
clustered failover configuration to provide high availability and scalable
performance to multiple networks.
• NetApp FAS960c/ FAS960 enterprise server. Similar to the FAS 980c/980, the
FAS960c and 960c are systems that are deployed for demanding SAN or NAS
applications but require less capacity. Available with up to 48 TB of
storage, these systems are deployed in a broad range of enterprise
applications, including Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”), Enterprise
Resource Planning (“ERP”), Decision Support Solutions (“DSS”), massive home
directory consolidation, and Web serving.
• NetApp FAS940c/ FAS940 enterprise server. The flexibility and performance
capabilities of the FAS940c bring FAS900 series features to a broad range of
enterprise applications, including Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”),
Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”), Decision Support Solutions (“DSS”),
massive home directory consolidation, and Web serving.
• NetApp FAS920c/ FAS920 enterprise server. The newest mid-range offering in
the FAS 9xx family is the FAS 920c/920 introduced early in fiscal year 2005.
Available with up to 12TB of storage, the 920 series continues our unified
storage leadership but at a lower entry price point and capacity. Still
deployed on a broad range of mission-critical enterprise applications, these
systems leverage the NetApp solution’s ability to easily scale to meet
changing customer requirements.
• NetApp F825c/ F825 enterprise servers. The balance of capacity and
performance with flexible I/ O configuration enables the NetApp F825c/ F825
to power a broad range of large- scale applications. Currently deployed in
the largest service provider networks and data-intensive environments,
including those running database/ ERP and other enterprise-level
applications, the F825 servers are proven high-performance workhorses.
• NetApp FAS270 filer. The FAS270 is a midrange system that offers an
entry-level Fibre Channel SAN solution while providing strong
price/performance for NAS and iSCSI infrastructures. Available with up to 6
TB of storage, the FAS 270 offers enhanced price/performance for mid range
SAN or NAS applications
• NetApp FAS250 filer. The NetApp FAS250 is an entry-level enterprise filer
supporting capacities up to 2TB in a compact form factor. The FAS250 is
completely software compatible with all other NetApp products and uses the
same storage shelves and Fibre Channel disks currently available for the
F800 and FAS900 series filers. The FAS250 provides customers with an
attractive entry-level price and a simple upgrade path to higher-capacity,
higher-performance filers.
Gateway Filers
The Network Appliance gFilerTM is an innovative gateway storage solution
that provides unified SAN and NAS access to data stored in Fibre Channel SAN
storage arrays from other storage vendors. The gFiler enables superior
consolidation and storage management in data center storage deployment for
an expanded set of business solutions. Like all NetApp storage appliances,
the gFiler is based on the Data ONTAP microkernel operating system, which
supports multiprotocol data access services and advanced data management
capabilities for consolidating, protecting, and recovering mission-critical
data for enterprise applications and users.
Current gateway filer products include:
• NetApp GF960/c gateway. Provides industry-leading performance to thousands
of independent users and high-bandwidth applications. Scales to 48TB of
managed capacity when configured for simultaneous active/active data access
with secure failover across two independent systems.
• NetApp GF940/c gateway. Provides flexibility and industry-leading
performance across a broad range of enterprise applications. Scales to 24TB
of managed capacity when configured for simultaneous active/active data
access with secure failover across two independent systems.
• NetApp GF920/c gateway. Provides flexibility and industry-leading
price/performance across a broad range of enterprise applications. Scales to
12TB of managed capacity when configured for simultaneous active/active data
access with secure failover across two independent systems.
• NetApp GF270c gateway. Provides an entry-level, integrated highly
available solution for small to mid-size workloads. Scales to 6TB of managed
capacity with simultaneous active/active data access with secure failover
across two independent, integrated systems.
The gFiler series supports multiple enterprise storage systems including the
Hitachi Data Systems Freedom StorageTM systems, the Hitachi Limited SANRISE
storage systems, and the IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server series.
The gFiler series for Hitachi Freedom Storage is available exclusively
through Hitachi Data Systems and its authorized resellers.
NearStore Systems
NetApp NearStore products are designed for improving data backup and
recovery architectures, storing reference and regulated data, and archiving
infrequently accessed files. NearStore systems back up and restore data with
speed, consistency, ease of use, and scalability, particularly compared to
tape-based backup/restore solutions. The product complements and improves
upon existing tape backup processes by inserting economical and
simple-to-use disk-based storage between application storage and tape
libraries, resulting in an efficient two-stage backup configuration. Almost
any type of primary storage can be backed up to NearStore systems, including
UNIX, Linux, and Windows servers with direct-attached or SAN-attached
storage from all other storage vendors, desktop and notebook computers, and
NetApp filers. NearStore can also be used as a replication target within a
data center, or for replicating data from remotely distributed offices or
branches to a central location in a fully heterogeneous,
platform-independent architecture.
NearStore systems are also ideal for consolidating nearline data resources,
including reference and archive data into a single storage platform. This
platform can be located and managed centrally, thus reducing costs
associated with data center operations.
With the advent of Rule 17a-4 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the “Exchange Act”) and HIPAA as well as several governmental
defense requirements, NearStore, in conjunction with NetApp SnapLockTM
software, has become part of an open access data-retention solution targeted
at regulated data industries, such as financial services, healthcare,
pharmaceuticals, and government.
Our current NearStore product, the R200, is available in system capacities
scaling from 8TB to 96TB, and provides full fabric-attached storage
connectivity via FCP, iSCSI, and NAS protocols.
NetCache Appliances
The NetCache product line is a scalable suite of Web delivery and security
appliances designed to solve complex problems faced by enterprises and
service providers. These appliances are deployed across the entire network,
from the primary data center to remote points of presence (POPs) and local
offices worldwide. They improve Internet gateway security and deliver web
content and applications throughout a customer’s entire network. NetCache
appliances address three major areas of customer challenge:
• Internet security. NetCache appliances form the foundation of the NetApp
Internet Access and security (“IAS”) solution, which enables many Internet
security capabilities, including proxy, caching, access control, content
filtering, Web antivirus, SSL scanning, IM and P2P blocking, antispam, and
reporting.
• Web content and application acceleration. NetCache appliances reduce
delays, bandwidth usage, and server load to improve delivery of web content
and web-based applications such as ERP and CRM systems.
• Video delivery. NetCache appliances improve delivery quality of online
training, executive video broadcasts, and large-scale video-on-demand
services.
Current NetCache hardware models include:
• NetCache C1200. Designed for remote offices and service providers’ POPs,
the C1200 combines space-sensitive design, reliability, and modular
configurations at an attractive price point. The C1200 does not sacrifice
reliability for low cost—it includes features like RAID and SCSI disk
drives.
• NetCache C2100. This midrange model optimizes price/performance by
supporting a wide range of capacity and reliability features. Reliability
and availability of mission-critical data are ensured with features such as
RAID, redundant hardware, and hot-swappable drives.
• NetCache C6200. This high-end model delivers the ultimate performance and
reliability for the data center and other high-bandwidth locations. Large
content libraries—up to 2TB of storage—can be reliably stored and protected
with RAID support.
Software Products
Filer and NearStore Families
Network Appliance sells appliance- and server-based software that simplifies
storage administration and increases data availability. All NetApp
appliances are configured with the Data ONTAP microkernel as part of the
base system, which includes the patented WAFL® (Write Anywhere File Layout)
file system. Data ONTAP supports protocols for both NAS and SAN
architectures, as well as several new data management, data replication and
data protection software products. Data ONTAP software offers a unique set
of features to ensure mission-critical availability levels, while lowering
the total cost of ownership and the complexity typically associated with
enterprise storage management. SnapshotTM technology, included as part of
the base system, enables online backups and provides rapid access to
previous versions of data without requiring complete separate copies.
Snapshot copies also eliminate the need to recover data from a tape archive
in the event of a disaster or user error.
Network Appliance develops software support for a number of
industry-standard protocols. The base systems include one protocol, and
additional protocols may be added at any time for an additional license fee.
Protocols available for the filer—including gFiler—and NearStore families
include:
• Common Internet File System (CIFS). CIFS is an industry-standard network
file-sharing protocol used in Microsoft® Windows environments.
• Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP). FCP is the standard serial SCSI command
protocol used in Fibre Channel SAN networks. FCP is a heterogeneous protocol
supported by all standard Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is an industry standard used to exchange
files between computers. FTP comes with the base system at no additional
charge.
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the de facto standard for
serving documents to Internet browsers. Having the HTTP server embedded
inside the Data ONTAP operating system offers a significant performance
advantage over traditional Web servers. In addition, the same set of files
can be served by the filer via NFS, CIFS, or HTTP, eliminating the need to
replicate data and servers to serve different users.
• iSCSI protocol. iSCSI, a new protocol defined by the Internet Engineering
Task Force, offers the consolidation, scalability, and management advantages
of a storage area network without the unfamiliarity, complexity, and expense
of Fibre Channel. iSCSI is an Ethernet-based protocol.
• Network File System (NFS). NFS is an industry-standard client/server
protocol for sharing files and directories over a network in Linux and UNIX
environments.
Data management software for filers and NearStore:
• Clustered failover software. Clustered failover software for filers
ensures high data availability for business-critical environments by
eliminating any single point of failure through a fully redundant,
active/active network storage cluster configuration.
• MetroCluster. MetroCluster is a highly available business continuance
solution ideal for campus and metropolitan area networks. MetroCluster
enables customers to quickly and easily resume mission-critical operation at
a remote site with no data loss and minimal downtime.
• MultiStore. Many enterprises have thousands of Windows and UNIX file
servers distributed throughout their networks. These servers not only
represent an enormous hardware investment they also create huge, ongoing
administration costs. NetApp MultiStore reduces this major expense and
complexity by enabling a single physical filer to appear as multiple virtual
filers. NetApp MultiStore software enables customers to quickly and
seamlessly consolidate a large number of servers onto a single filer.
• SnapLock. SnapLock is designed to meet the requirements of data permanence
required by various government regulations — most notably Rule 17a-4 under
the Exchange Act for financial services broker-dealers. SnapLock provides
WORM (write once, read many) attributes such as nonerasability and
nonrewritability that prevent data, once it is stored on NearStore, from
ever being altered or deleted.
• SnapMirror. SnapMirror remote mirroring software enables automated
asynchronous file system replication between sites. SnapMirror leverages the
Data ONTAP Snapshot technology to enable customers to quickly recover from
site disasters, easily replicate critical data, and cost-effectively deploy
centralized backup architectures.
• SnapMover. NetApp SnapMover software is a fast and simple solution for
migrating data among NetApp storage systems with no impact on data
availability and no disruption to users. SnapMover enables IT to efficiently
meet evolving storage and performance requirements while maintaining user
productivity.
• SnapRestore. SnapRestore allows rapid restoration of a file system to an
earlier point in time, typically in only a few seconds. SnapRestore is based
on the Data ONTAP Snapshot technology and enables customers to greatly
minimize recovery time in the event of data corruption or loss.
• SnapVault. SnapVault provides extended and centralized disk-based backup
for filers, and for heterogeneous servers with their associated storage, by
periodically backing up data to, and maintaining Snapshot copies on, another
filer or NearStore system on the network. Storing multiple Snapshot copies
on the SnapVault server enables enterprises to keep weeks, months, or years
of backups online, improving recovery times in the event of a disaster or
data corruption.
• SyncMirror. SyncMirror is a synchronous data replication tool for
mission-critical applications in a local data center environment. The
replicated data is completely up-to-date and provides a higher level of data
availability by protecting data against various physical storage component
failures.
Storage management and application integration software for filers and
NearStore:
• ApplianceWatch. ApplianceWatch software allows IT professionals to
centrally manage and administer NetApp appliances using standard management
frameworks, including products from HP OpenView and Tivoli.
• DataFabric Manager software. DataFabric Manager offers the ability to
manage multiple NetApp filer appliances, NearStore systems, and NetCache
appliances from a single administrative console, reducing administrative
complexity and total cost of ownership. DataFabric Manager 3.0 was
introduced during fiscal year 2004.
• FilerView. FilerView a Web-based administration tool, allows IT
administrators to fully manage filers from remote locations on the network
using a Web browser.
• SnapDrive SnapDrive is a management software package that enables
customers to take full advantage of the simple data management capabilities
of the filer appliance in block-based storage environments.
• SnapManager. SnapManager software for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL
Server, and Lotus Domino allows customers to perform online backup and rapid
recovery of business-critical application data. SnapManager enables
application-aware disk-based data recovery, restoring critical application
services as quickly as possible in the event of a disaster.
• Snapshot. Snapshot technology is included as part of the base system,
enables online backups, and provides rapid access to previous versions of
data without requiring complete separate copies. Snapshot copies also
eliminate the need to recover data from a tape archive in the event of a
disaster or user error.
• Virtual File ManagerTM (VFM). VFM is a file virtualization solution for
managing distributed storage in Windows and multiprotocol environments. VFM
provides a global namespace that dramatically simplifies the administration
of large file server environments.
NetCache Appliances
NetCache Web delivery and security appliances support many applications
including proxy, Web caching, content filtering, virus scanning, Web
application acceleration, streaming media delivery, content distribution,
and usage analysis applications. NetApp technology provides the unique
ability to deploy all of these solutions on a single appliance. Our
technology advantages provide greater multifunctional capabilities from a
single appliance, so networks can be scaled more quickly, with greater
manageability.
The NetCache product line includes support for proxy and caching of many
standard Web protocols, including:
• Domain Name Service (DNS). DNS caching improves lookups of Web site
addresses to improve overall Web access and reduce IP traffic.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is an industry standard used to exchange
files between computers.
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the de facto standard for
serving documents to Internet browsers. Having the HTTP server embedded
inside the Data ONTAP operating system offers a significant performance
advantage over traditional Web servers.
NetCache protocols available for an additional license fee include:
• Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). NNTP is the de facto standard for
online discussions on the Internet. NNTP caching enables Internet service
providers (ISPs) to provide a high-quality NetNews service at a fraction of
the cost of traditional NetNews servers.
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): SSL is used to securely transfer encrypted
data on the Web. With this feature enabled, NetCache can terminate an SSL
connection in order to cache and accelerate HTTPS traffic between clients
and Web servers, providing end users with better quality of service (QOS).
Network Appliance also offers a set of software products that provide
specialized functionality to solve a variety of business problems.
Additional add-on software features and products for the NetCache family
include:
Content delivery:
• Microsoft Windows MediaTM streaming. Fully supports Windows Media features
such as live stream splitting; delivery of video-on-demand; and digital
rights management, authentication, authorization, and logging.
• QuickTimeTM streaming. Supports Apple® QuickTime streaming servers and the
Apple QuickTime Player to optimize the delivery of QuickTime content.
• RealNetworks® streaming. Supports RealAudioTM and RealVideoTM, and
replicates SureStreamTM functionality between RealSystemTM servers and
RealPlayer®.
Internet access and security:
• Internet content filtering. On-box Internet content filtering provided via
Secure Computing SmartFilter® and Webwasher® DynaBLocatorTM. Off-box content
filtering provided via Websense Enterprise® and Webwasher® CSM Suite.
• Virus scanning. The NetCache family supports ICAP-enabled virus scanning
by leading antivirus engines. Webwasher® CSM Suite is available from NetApp,
while others, including Trend MicroTM InterScanTM Web Security Suite and
Symantec AntiVirusTM Scan Engine, are available from their respective
manufacturers.
• Webwasher® ContentReporter. Webwasher ContentReporter provides a library
of rich, customizable reports based on built-in cache, streaming media,
e-mail activity, Internet access, and content filtering queries for
monitoring, managing and securing Internet content and network activity.
Systems setup and administration:
• ApplianceWatch. ApplianceWatch software allows IT professionals to
centrally manage and administer NetApp appliances using standard management
frameworks, including products from HP OpenView and Tivoli.
• DataFabric Manager (DFM) software. DataFabric Manager offers the ability
to manage multiple NetApp filer appliances, NearStore systems, and NetCache
appliances from a single administrative console, reducing administrative
complexity and total cost of ownership. DataFabric Manager 3.0 was
introduced during fiscal year 2004.
• DataFabric Manager distribution module. As an add-on to DFM, the DFM
distribution module enables administrators to prepopulate data onto the
NetCache appliance based on powerful administrative policy options.
• Global Request Manager (GRM): GRM provides a mechanism to redirect Web
requests to the NetCache appliance with the greatest availability and
closest proximity to the end user which simplifies the deployment of a
content delivery network and lowers the total cost of ownership.
• SecureAdmin.TM SecureAdmin encrypts administrative sessions between
NetCache and the administration console, delivering maximum security for
online administration in an untrusted environment.
Customers may purchase an annual software subscription upgrade that provides
online access to all software and firmware upgrades and updates.
Netapp Global Services
Network Appliance offers comprehensive, global, enterprise-wide support and
consulting solutions. Some enterprise customers require a comprehensive,
enterprise-wide support solution, while others operate with complete
self-sufficiency. Our flexible support and consulting service programs help
our customers maximize data availability and maintain a low total cost of
ownership.
Network Appliance’s commitment to customer service and satisfaction is
reflected in our Global Support Center (“GSC”) operations available from
five locations: Sunnyvale, California; Raleigh, North Carolina; Hoofddorp,
Netherlands; Bangalore, India; and Tokyo, Japan. Our “follow the sun”
strategy provides around-the-clock support regardless of where a customer is
located. All five Global Support Centers have received the Support Center
Practices (“SCP”) certification, which is an internationally recognized
standard created by the Service & Support Professionals Association (“SSPA”)
and a consortium of IT companies to create a recognized quality
certification for support centers.
Our proactive service options provide comprehensive enterprise-wide support
and ensure optimal system configuration and performance:
• Global Advisor and Global Advisor Plus. Network Appliance will review GSC
cases and remotely monitor systems for trends or issues beyond the base
AutoSupport level. With Global Advisor Plus, we provide customers with
direct access to back-line engineers.
• System Availability Management (“SAM”) and System Availability Management
Plus (“SAM+”). Network Appliance performs regular site inspections and
system availability reviews. With System Availability Management Plus,
customers also receive on-site, 24x7 response from our Professional Services
engineers.
Network Appliance Consulting Services offers custom or fixed-scope
consulting engagements. From strategy, planning, and architecture
development to ongoing performance optimization, we work to ensure that
customers maximize information availability and minimize downtime. Our
Consulting Services products include services that address:
• Assessment of existing resources, practices, and performance;
• Storage solution design;
• Network architecture evaluation and recommendations;
• Data migration;
• Database consulting;
• System moves;
• Installation and configuration;
• System availability management audits;
• Disaster recovery assessment, solution design, and deployment; and
• Data protection solutions.
Warranty coverage for hardware is product-specific, for a term of three
years. Software warranty is for 90 days. The 90-day period warrants that
media will be free of defects and will perform substantially as described in
the end-user documentation. Warranty coverage includes: access to the NOWTM
(NetApp on the Web) Web site and knowledge system, AutoSupport;
next-business-day exchange of system components; 24x7 emergency phone
support; and 24x7 Web case support for nonemergency situations.
A customer can purchase an extended warranty after the initial warranty
coverage expires. Purchasing the extended warranty entitles the customer to
access the services included in the base warranty for an additional period
of time, and is typically renewed on an annual basis.
Customers can select from a comprehensive menu of service options to design
a service program that complements their existing in-house capabilities.
Customers can supplement their warranty or extended warranty packages by
choosing from service options including the following:
• Software Subscription and Support (“SSP”). Network Appliance provides 24x7
software phone support and entitles the customer to all major and minor
releases of Network Appliance software and firmware upgrades. Customers that
have a current software subscription are able to download new software
releases from the NOW Web site.
• On-site service. Network Appliance provides next-business-day, two-, or
four-hour on-site service for select configurations of NetApp equipment. We
provide 24x7 phone support and next-business-day, two-hour, or four-hour
response time to system problems. After case diagnosis, a Network Appliance
qualified technician will be dispatched to the customer facility to perform
on-site diagnostics and troubleshooting of the Network Appliance equipment
and perform the necessary hardware/ software changes.
• Hardware delivery and replacement. Network Appliance provides 24x7 phone
support and 2- or 4-hour delivery of parts after a case has been submitted
to Network Appliance and diagnosed. A customer support representative or
automated AutoSupport process will dispatch the parts delivery once the case
has been diagnosed as hardware replacement. Customers may also purchase
packages that include a response by a Network Appliance qualified
technician.
• Education. Network Appliance offers instructor-led, Web-based,
computer-based, self-paced, or distance-learning classes, as well as custom
on-site education programs and technical certification programs. Certified,
experienced Network Appliance trainers teach the instructor-led programs
around the world. All courses include practical lessons and feature
extensive hands-on experience in installing, configuring, and
troubleshooting NetApp systems.
Customer Base
Our diversified customer base spans a number of large vertical markets.
Examples include:
• Energy. Customers in the energy market have traditionally deployed our
products to support their exploration activities, where the simplicity of
the appliance architecture and the ability to support massive amounts of
data are critical. Our solutions help enable energy companies to meet their
workflow optimization objectives, improve quality, reduce cycle times, and
lower costs.
• Federal government. The United States (“U.S.”) federal government is one
of the largest information technology (“IT”) consumers in the world, and
Network Appliance Federal Systems, Inc., provides solutions for many
data-intensive activities, including intelligence gathering, analysis, and
civilian and military operations.
• Financial services. New data-processing methodologies, shorter time frames
for settlement transactions, and new demands for better knowledge management
are requiring financial services firms to improve their data storage
infrastructures. Network Appliance solutions for enterprise storage enable
these financial institutions to effectively manage large amounts of data in
a high-speed distributed infrastructure, enabling customers to leverage
their existing technology investments and derive maximum value from their
time-sensitive information.
• High technology. Global technology enterprises, including semiconductor,
systems, and software companies, are keenly focused on reducing
infrastructure cost and improving time-to-market. Network Appliance
solutions enable high-technology firms to achieve these goals by reducing
total cost of ownership and providing highly reliable systems and rapid
access to corporate information assets.
• Internet. Internet-focused businesses place considerable and often
unpredictable demands on transaction-intensive, database-driven environments
such as electronic mail (e-mail), World Wide Web (WWW), and electronic
commerce (e-commerce). In a marketplace where retaining customer loyalty is
paramount, Internet-focused businesses must have high performance and
readily available data to ensure that their customers do not seek
alternative providers. Scalable distributed architectures based on Network
Appliance’s products improve data availability, scalability, and
performance, while reducing the total cost of ownership.
• Life sciences. Pharmaceutical, bioresearch, genomic research, and care
providers are focused on developing vital new drugs, improving quality of
patient care, and increasing their returns on investment. Network Appliance
solutions enable fast access, integration, and sharing of massive amounts of
exponentially growing scientific and medical imaging data, reduced
time-to-market, and improvements in operational efficiency.
• Major manufacturing. Global manufacturing companies face intense
competitive pressure to develop attractive new products, improve
time-to-market, and optimize profitability. Network Appliance solutions
enable these companies to simplify the management overhead associated with
storing and protecting large amounts of ERP, engineering, and manufacturing
product data, while ensuring that information can be easily and efficiently
distributed to manufacturing and distribution sites around the world.
• Telecommunications. Service providers in the telecommunications industry
are faced with deregulation, globalization, increased competition, and often
a substantial debt burden. As a result, they must control infrastructure
costs while maintaining or improving services to existing customers and at
the same time identifying and developing compelling new revenue streams in
order to grow their business. Network Appliance’s products and solutions
allow these providers to quickly and cost-effectively build the network
storage infrastructure and content delivery networks required by the global
telecommunications industry.
Competition
The storage and content delivery markets are intensely competitive, and are
characterized by rapidly changing technology.
In the storage market, our FAS appliances and associated storage software
portfolio competes primarily with storage system products and data
management software from EMC Corporation, Hitachi Data Systems,
Hewlett-Packard Company (including the integrated Compaq Computer
Corporation), IBM Corporation, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. We have also
historically encountered less-frequent competition from companies including
Dell, Engenio Information Technologies, Inc. (formerly the Storage Systems
Group of LSI Logic Corp.), StorageTek Technology Corporation, Silicon
Graphics, Inc., and Xiotech Corporation. In the nearline storage market,
which includes the disk-to-disk backup and regulated data storage segments,
our NearStore appliances compete primarily against products from EMC and
StorageTek. Our NearStore appliances also compete indirectly with
traditional tape backup solutions in the broader data backup/recovery space.
In the content delivery market, our NetCache appliances and content delivery
software compete against caching appliance and content delivery software
vendors including BlueCoat Systems (formerly CacheFlow, Inc.), and Cisco
Systems, Inc. Our NetCache business is also subject to indirect competition
from content delivery service products such as those offered by Akamai
Technologies.
Additionally, a number of new, privately held companies are currently
attempting to enter the storage systems and data management software
markets, the nearline storage market, and the caching and content delivery
markets, some of which may become significant competitors in the future. We
believe that the principal competitive factors affecting the storage and
content delivery markets include product benefits such as response time,
reliability, data availability, scalability, ease of use, price,
multiprotocol capabilities, and customer service and support.
Ticker
NTAP
Computer Storage Companies in the Directory
EMC
Imation
Iomega
Network Appliance
SanDisk
StorageTek
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