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NetApp

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NetApp, Inc.
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: NTAP
NASDAQ-100 Component
S&P 500 Component
IndustryStorage device
Founded1992; 32 years ago (1992)
FounderDavid Hitz
James Lau
Michael Malcolm
Headquarters
495 East Java Drive
Sunnyvale, California
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
George Kurian (CEO)
Mike Nevens (Chairman of the Board)
ProductsData storage hardware and software
RevenueDecrease $5.54 billion (2016)[1]
Decrease $348 million (2016)[1]
Decrease $229 million (2016)[1]
Total assetsIncrease $10.03 billion (2016)[1]
Total equityDecrease $2.88 billion (2016)[1]
Number of employees
10,700 (2016)[2]
Websitewww.netapp.com

NetApp, Inc. is an American multinational storage and data management company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It is a member of the NASDAQ-100,[3] and has ranked in the Fortune 500 since 2012.[4] Founded in 1992[5] with an IPO in 1995,[2] NetApp offers software, systems and services to manage and store data, including its proprietary Data ONTAP operating system.[6]

History

NetApp headquarters in Sunnyvale, California

NetApp was founded in 1992 by David Hitz, James Lau,[7] and Michael Malcolm.[5][8] At the time, its major competitor was Auspex Systems. In 1994, NetApp received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital.[9] It had its initial public offering in 1995. NetApp thrived in the internet bubble years of the mid 1990s to 2001, during which the company grew to $1 billion in annual revenue. After the bubble burst, NetApp's revenues quickly declined to $800 million in its fiscal year 2002. Since then, the company's revenue has steadily climbed.

In 2006, NetApp sold the NetCache product line to Blue Coat Systems. In 2014, NetApp acquired Riverbed Technology's SteelStore line of data backup and protection products,[10] which it later renamed as AltaVault.[11] On June 1, 2015, Tom Georgens stepped down as CEO and was replaced by George Kurian.[12][13]

In December 2015 (closing in January 2016), NetApp acquired flash storage vendor SolidFire for $870 million.[14]

Competition

NetApp competes in the computer data storage hardware industry.[15] In 2009, NetApp ranked second in market capitalization in its industry behind EMC Corporation and ahead of Seagate Technology, Western Digital, Brocade, Imation, and Quantum.[16] In total revenue of 2009, NetApp ranked behind EMC, Seagate, Western Digital, and ahead of Imation, Brocade, Xyratex, and Hutchinson Technology.[17] According to a 2014 IDC report, NetApp ranked second in the network storage industry "Big 5's list", behind EMC(DELL), and ahead of IBM, HP and Hitachi.[18]

Products

Main article: NetApp filer
NetApp FAS3240 (second from bottom) with three DS4243 shelves on top

The line of NetApp filers has served as the company's flagship product from the very beginning. A filer is a type of disk-storage device which owns and controls a filesystem and presents files and directories to hosts over the network. This scheme is sometimes called network-attached storage, as opposed to the block storage which major storage vendors like IBM, EMC Corporation and Hitachi Data Systems have traditionally provided.

NetApp's filers initially used NFS and SMB protocols based on standard local area networks (LANs), whereas block storage consolidation required storage area networks (SANs) implemented with the Fibre Channel (FC) protocol. In 2002, in an attempt to increase market share, NetApp added block-storage access as well. As of 2016 NetApp systems support it via FC protocol, the iSCSI protocol and the emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol.

The filers use NetApp's proprietary operating system called Data ONTAP which includes code from Berkeley Net/2 BSD Unix, Spinnaker Networks technology and other operating systems.[19] Data ONTAP originally only supported NFS, but later added support for SMB, iSCSI and Fibre Channel (including Fibre Channel over Ethernet). In June 16, 2006[20] NetApp provided two variants of Data ONTAP. Data ONTAP 7G and a nearly complete rewrite[19] called Data ONTAP GX, based upon grid technology acquired from Spinnaker Networks. In 2010 these software product lines merged into one OS - Data ONTAP 8, which folded Data ONTAP 7G onto the Data ONTAP GX cluster platform. Data ONTAP 8 has two distinct operating modes - 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode.

NetApp's OnCommand management software controls and automates data-storage.[21]

Reception

Controversy

Syrian surveillance

In November 2011, during the 2011 Syrian uprising, NetApp was named as one of several companies whose products were being used in the Syrian government crackdown. The equipment was allegedly sold to the Syrians by an authorized NetApp reseller.[22]

On April 7, 2014, NetApp was notified by the US Department of Commerce "that it had completed its review of this matter and determined that NetApp had not violated the U.S. export laws", and that the file on the matter had been closed.[23]

In September 2007, NetApp started proceedings against Sun Microsystems, claiming that the ZFS File System developed by Sun infringed its patents.[24] The following month, Sun announced plans to countersue based on alleged misuse by NetApp of Sun's own patented technology.[25] Several of NetApp's patent claims were rejected on the basis of prior art after re-examination by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[26] On September 9, 2010, NetApp announced an agreement with Oracle Corporation (the new owner of Sun Microsystems) to dismiss the suits.[27]

Accolades

NetApp was listed amongst Silicon Valley Top 25 Corporate Philanthropists in 2013.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "NetApp Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2015 Results" (PDF). NetApp. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b "FAQs". NetApp. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Historical Data – NASDAQ-100 Index". Nasdaq.com. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  4. ^ "NetApp". Fortune 500. Time Inc. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Corporate brief". NetApp. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  6. ^ "Company Snapshot" (PDF). NetApp. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Executive Bios". NetApp. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  8. ^ "Michael Malcolm Resigns as Chairman of the Board of CacheFlow to Focus on New Start-Up Opportunity". Business Wire. 13 November 2000. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  9. ^ "Sequoia Capital funds NetApp".
  10. ^ Gagliordi, Natalie (27 October 2014). "NetApp buys Riverbed Technology's Steelstore business". ZDNet. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  11. ^ Adshead, Antony (18 May 2015). "NetApp launches AltaVault hybrid cloud backup appliance family". ComputerWeekly. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  12. ^ "NetApp Announces Changes to Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors". NetApp. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  13. ^ "NetApp Announces Changes to Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors". Investing.com. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  14. ^ Jordan Novet (December 21, 2015). "NetApp acquires flash storage vendor SolidFire for $870M". Venture Beat. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  15. ^ "Industry Center - Data Storage Devices Overview". Yahoo! Finance. 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  16. ^ "Industry Center - Data Storage Devices, Leaders in Market Capitalization". Yahoo! Finance. 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  17. ^ "Industry Center - Data Storage Devices, Leaders in Total Revenue (ttm)". Yahoo! Finance. 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  18. ^ "How EMC Lines Up Against NetApp, HP, IBM, Hitachi In Storage Systems Market". Forbes.
  19. ^ a b "Is Data ONTAP Based On UNIX?". 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2016-06-11.[dead link]
  20. ^ "ONTAP GX—Past and Future". 2006-06-16. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Raj, Pethuru; Raman, Anupama; Nagaraj, Dhivya; Duggirala, Siddhartha (2015). High-Performance Big-Data Analytics: Computing Systems and Approaches. Computer Communications and Networks. Springer. p. 242. ISBN 9783319207445. Retrieved 2016-02-09. NetApp OnCommand management software and Cisco Unified Computing System Manager tools help you optimize your server and network environment, handling hundreds of resources for thousands of virtual machines. OnCommand controls and automates your data storage infrastructure.
  22. ^ "Companies That Aid Syria Crackdown Deserve Sanctions' Slap: View". Businessweek. 2011-11-14. Archived from the original on 2013-05-02. Retrieved 2012-03-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "NetApp response to allegations of potential use of equipment in Syria". NetApp. 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  24. ^ "NetApp files patent suit against Sun". September 5, 2007.
  25. ^ "Sun plans to countersue NetApp". October 24, 2007.
  26. ^ "NetApp Patent Lawsuit Against ZFS Open Source Technology". Archived from the original on 2010-11-09. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  27. ^ "Oracle, NetApp agree to settle ZFS patent litigation". September 10, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  28. ^ "Corporate philanthropy: Meet Silicon Valley's 25 most generous companies".

Further reading

  • NetApp
  • Business data for NetApp:
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