Netapp in June re-stated its focus regarding strategy, priorities and outlook.
Netapp’s messages revolves around virtualization & cloud and are permeated by its long term commitment to data centre solutions from medium size up to large scale IT.
Conversely, Netapp wants to eradicate any perception that it is a midrange supplier or a mere provider of NAS.
Success During a Downturn
Netapp stressed its unique position during the recent annual and quarterly financial results while most other storage vendors’ revenues dropped. Netapp grew revenues to just under $4B for 2010 and $1.17B for Q4 up 16% on the same quarter a year ago. These are clearly very respectable results compared to the storage industry in general and proves Netapp’s resilience with a satisfied customer base. Netapp stresses that the outcome is due to its focus during the recession as a product company and how additional revenue from software and services were generated from its hardware business.
Netapp, the Enterprise Company
Netapp articulates its strategy well as a fully-fledged enterprise supplier primarily due to its scalability and portfolio of arrays. It also provides a rich set of storage features, virtualizing the storage arrays extensively as well as supporting virtualized server farms. The best way to demonstrate a vendor’s enterprise credentials is through customer testimonials and by pro-actively engineering the features customers will be looking for. And is preferable to adopting a reprimanding tone for those who still do not get how enterprise ready Netapp has become.
Netapp, the Cloud Provider
Cloud permeates Netapp’s messaging whether it relates to private cloud, public cloud or hybrid cloud. The company promotes a highly virtualised shared infrastructure based on multi-tenancy to its customers whether they are IT departments or service providers. Customers may still choose to deploy IT based on application silos, but Netapp as a business is making serious investments in the cloud.
Partners
With Netapp’s business being 70% provided through partners, Netapp understandably wants to help its partners being successful. No change there then. The implication is also that Netapp will need to make significant investments in supporting its partners as the infrastructure story gets increasingly complex. This is not trivial as a poorly articulated infrastructure conversation will reflect badly on the reseller and Netapp as well.
The big partners like Microsoft, CISCO, VMware are also in the picture and will continue to enjoy significant respect from Netapp.
Future
Netapp has enjoyed an enviable position as the company evolved its broad protfolio over the years while maintaining revenue and profit growth even during a recession. Its customer satisfaction has long been strong, and the company is now also enjoying growth in terms of market and brand awareness.
The cloud strategy for both customers and suppliers is not a foregone conclusion and may well throw up disruptive change for both parties. But Netapp is throwing its weight and resources behind cloud based computing and cloud based infrastructures. Netapp has articulated well that it intends to lead the debate while continuing to drive innovation in storage.
