NetApp announces solutions for the midsize enterprise market in India

NetApp announces solutions for the midsize enterprise market in India

New Entry-Level Storage Systems and Deployment Services Minimize Data Management Complexity and Increase Storage Efficiency

MUMBAI, September 11, 2007—IDC forecasts that the Midsize Enterprise (MSE) external disk storage systems market will grow to $6.0B in 2011, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9%, which is almost twice as fast as the overall market1. While demands on the MSE to increase storage capacity are tremendous, the typical Midsize Enterprise faces a dilemma of how to manage and protect all that data without a corresponding increase in headcount.

To help customers solve this dilemma—and with an expanded focus on the MSE market—Network Appliance today unveiled the NetApp® FAS2000 product line—the FAS2020 and FAS2050—and new deployment and auditing services designed to help simplify data management and maximize existing IT investments. Today NetApp brings to the market an enterprise-class storage technology that easily scales to help MSE customers maximize their data infrastructures while minimizing complexity, overhead, and technical staffing costs.

The MSE, as NetApp defines it, manages multiple servers and supports the data storage needs of anywhere between 100 and 1,000 employees. The size and scope of these businesses pose several challenges. The first is that they rely on their IT departments—normally staffed by an IT “generalist” —to keep the business running, and, by default, keep employees productive. These generalists may not have the time to tighten integration between major applications and the storage platform. The other challenge is the necessity to reduce overall costs by fully optimizing IT assets. Finally, these companies need to become agile enterprises, in other words, change,

grow and adapt, for which they require an infrastructure that scales non-disruptively. NetApp MSE solutions, and the FAS2020 and FAS2050, empower the MSE to address these challenges.

“Although the typical MSE may have fewer IT resources than its large enterprise counterparts, it generally needs to address the same issues: managing dynamic data needs, contending with serious growing pains, and grappling with how to best prepare for unknowns,” said Brad Nisbet, program manager at IDC. “Solutions such as the FAS2000 will help these midsize companies deal with the demands of backup, disaster recovery, and server consolidation, all within the constraints of limited budget and lack of ’storage specialists.’”

“The single most important benefit NetApp offers customers with these new solutions and services is the ability to accomplish more with fewer resources—particularly in terms of headcount,” said George Thomas, Country Manager – India & SAARC, NetApp. “At the end of the day, if customers turn their expensive, legacy DAS infrastructure into a cost-effective networked storage model—and see hard savings on backup, disaster recovery, and data storage costs—they’re well-prepared to handle the challenges of a growing business that might come their way.”

Availability

All products described in this release are available immediately from NetApp.

Additional Information

An overview of various deployment scenarios and use cases for the new solutions and services from NetApp is given in the annexure to this release. Additional technical and solution information is available online for these and other products at www.netapp.com/solutions/enterprise/midsize-enterprise/index.html?cid=37.

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance is a leading provider of innovative data management solutions that simplify the complexity of storing, managing, protecting, and retaining enterprise data. Market leaders around the world choose NetApp to help them reduce cost, minimize risk, and adapt to

change. For solutions that deliver unmatched simplicity and value, visit us on the Web at www.netapp.com.

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1 MSE is based on Price Band 4 ($15,000-$49,999), IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems 2007-2011 Forecast: Mature, but Still Growing Market, May 2007. NetApp, the Network Appliance logo, Data ONTAP, FlexClone,

FlexVol, and SnapManager are registered trademarks and Network Appliance, Snapshot, and RAID-DP are trademarks of Network Appliance, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and SharePoint are registered trademarks and SQL Server is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

ANNEXURE: DEPLOYMENT SCENARIOUS AND USE CASES

Easier Deployment and Management—the Move to Networked Storage

The architectural simplicity of all NetApp storage systems, and the new FAS2000 series in particular, allows customers to readily consolidate direct attached storage (DAS) into a single networked solution and scale on demand. NetApp uniquely empowers IT managers to rapidly provision new datasets without labor-intensive, time-consuming, and disruptive hardware reconfiguration. By simply pooling storage, NetApp lets customers logically allocate data resources as needed. For the MSE, the ability to speed the overall provisioning process means an accelerated ability to control changing environments and adapt rapidly to new business opportunities and challenges.

Increased Business Uptime—Storage Is Mission Critical

The FAS2000 series, with NetApp Data ONTAP® software, provides customers with point-in-time copies of any application set, whether it’s an Oracle® database, a Microsoft® Exchange e-mail, or file-based storage. This powerful capability means that system administrators can restore data in minutes or seconds instead of hours. Simplifying the backup and restore operation for the Midsize Enterprise is a huge value for an IT generalist.

Improved Cost—Simplified Data Management and Better Utilization

NetApp is helping the MSE make better use of its existing IT and storage assets. The FAS2000 solution, coupled with powerful NetApp data management software and technologies, helps protect customers’ application data with Snapshot™ technology and RAID-DP™ (RAID 6) technology, avoid duplicating redundant data with A-SIS technology, accelerate cloning with NetApp FlexClone® software, and gain thin provisioning capabilities with FlexVol® thin provisioning software. NetApp also helps contain IT manpower expense. By providing application-centric data management software, including NetApp SnapManager® for Exchange, Oracle, SAP®, SharePoint®, and SQL Server™, NetApp makes it easier for customers to provision, back up and restore, and archive data, and implement disaster recovery, providing savings that manifest in better use of employees’ time.

Cost-Effective Server and Storage Consolidation—the Time Is Now

A burgeoning issue for all IT managers is server and storage consolidation. The ability to virtually consolidate servers—and storage—helps customers make the most of their IT infrastructure. Consolidation manifests itself in reduced power, cooling, and floor space. The market is a-buzz with the entry of solutions from VMware and other virtualization players. These solutions finally make server consolidation practical. Now is an opportune time to go one step further to also consolidate storage environments and to make the move from a direct attached storage model to a networked storage structure.

New Deployment and Auditing Services

NetApp is offering two services, delivered by NetApp Global Services (NGS) and the NetApp Service Partner Network, for new and existing customers. Customers and partners new to NetApp now have a Rapid Deployment Service to set up and configure new systems. Once systems are up and running, there is also a Storage Availability Audit service, which helps customers take full advantage of the capabilities that are already built into their systems to make the most of their storage environment.

The NetApp SupportEdge portfolio also includes Premium AutoSupport, to provide configuration planning and management tools for customers who want to optimize their storage performance to better meet the expectations of today’s typical MSE customers. Visit www.netapp.com/support for more information about NetApp Global Services and its new offerings.