Amdahl Corporation Signs Agreement with Network Appliance to Resell Filer Solutions that Increase Data Availability Across the Enterprise.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 1999--

Amdahl Corp. today announced an agreement with Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP), to resell NetApp(R) hardware and software products that simplify data management and improve performance and availability.

Amdahl, expert in delivering information technology products and solutions for the global marketplace, and NetApp, the leader in providing network-attached storage (NAS) and management solutions, will work together to expand the worldwide deployment of network-centric storage. The companies will target the growing corporate enterprise and commercial data center marketplace. International Data Corp. forecasts that the storage market for servers exceeding $100,000 will reach $20 billion in 2002.

Network-attached storage is one of the fastest growing segments of information technology, providing plug-and-play storage capacity to large corporate enterprises. NetApp F700 series filers attached to mixed UNIX(R) and Windows NT(R) server networks provide centralized access to data while improving data access performance and overall storage management.

The NetApp F700 series delivers multi-terabytes of high-performance storage capacity and allows customers to perform true data sharing between UNIX and Windows NT platforms. Other advanced product features of Network Appliance(TM) F700 series filers include Snapshot(TM), SnapMirror(TM), and SnapRestore(TM) which provide high availability, innovative backup, and disaster recovery protection for today's large commercial enterprises.

"The Amdahl alliance with NetApp is in response to customer requirements for simple, cost-effective data management in the face of accelerating Internet activity and e-business," said William Flanagan, group president of Amdahl Technology Group. "To direct customers to the new online economy is an assignment Amdahl has accepted with confidence. Our alliance with Network Appliance is a key part of that assignment."

Return on investment

Amdahl's solutions practices -- derived from three decades of experience in the deployment and integration of mission-critical systems -- will provide infrastructure services individually tailored to customers who purchase Network Appliance products from Amdahl. Together, Amdahl and NetApp can offer quality components and smooth deployment while reducing risk and lowering total cost of ownership.

"Being successful in large commercial data centers and enterprises is important to NetApp's overall enterprise strategy, and this reseller relationship with Amdahl underscores our resolution to deliver topnotch solutions," said Charlie Simmons, vice president of corporate development at Network Appliance. "Our NAS products are fast becoming core components of today's corporate data infrastructure, and Amdahl brings a unique capability to the market that will help us further accelerate the enterprise penetration of NetApp filers."

"NAS filers are moving out of a niche position in specialized applications to support more general-purpose requirements of users wanting to consolidate and better manage business-critical information," said John Webster of Illuminata. "The Amdahl/NetApp alliance directly addresses the needs of customers looking for a robust delivery of this new implementation."

"NAS solutions will become a significant trend," said Robert Gray of IDC. "The Amdahl/NetApp alliance is filling a need for more enterprise-class distribution channels for storage networking solutions, and customers would be well-served to investigate this opportunity."

A NetApp F700 series filer is being showcased at the Gartner GroupSymposium/Itxpo99 in Orlando, Fla., this week, exchanging files between Linux and Windows NT.

Full storage complement

You can visit Amdahl's e-commerce site at www.eShopAmdahl.com to find out about and initiate purchase of Amdahl Platinum, S/390-compatible storage, and Amdahl LVS(TM) Open Systems Storage.

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance, a veteran in network file serving and caching, has been providing data access solutions since 1992. Major corporations and ISPs including Lycos, Yahoo!, Citicorp Securities, Siemens, Lockheed, Cisco, Motorola and Texas Instruments have deployed Network Appliance(R) solutions. NetApp Internet caching solutions (NetCache(TM) appliances) and file servers (filers) deliver fast, simple, reliable and cost-effective access to network-stored data and enable simultaneous shared file services for UNIX, Windows NT and the World Wide Web.

The company pioneered the concept of the "network appliance," an extension of the industry trend toward dedicated, specialized products that perform a single function. Network Appliance filers and NetCache appliances are based on the Company's innovative data access software known as Data ONTAP(TM) operating system and standards-compliant hardware. More information is available at http://www.netapp.com.

About Amdahl Corporation: http://www.amdahl.com/about/abtamh.htm

For the Year 2000 compliance status of this offering and others, visit the companies' Year 2000 Web sites at: http://www.amdahl.com/y2k/ and http://www.netapp.com/y2k.html.

The information in this document may be superseded by subsequent documents. For details regarding delivery of specific products, features, and services, contact a local Amdahl representative.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Amdahl news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.amdahl.com/, the Amdahl Corp. home page. The Amdahl site provides current, in-depth information on Amdahl offerings and solutions for enterprise computing.

Amdahl is a registered trademark and LVS is a trademark of Amdahl Corp. NetApp is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries of Network Appliance. Network Appliance, NetCache, Data ONTAP, Snapshot, SnapMirror, and SnapRestore are trademarks of Network Appliance. Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. used under license. UNIX is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. S/390 is a registered trademark of IBM Corp. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.