Network Appliance Announces Support for New SNIA SMI-S Standard.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2004

NetApp Teams with Industry Leaders to Simplify Management of

SAN Environments for Enterprise Customers

Network Appliance, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP), a leading provider of enterprise network storage solutions, today announced the NetApp(R) SMI-S 1.0.2 conformant provider now complies with the latest version of the Storage Networking Industry Association's (SNIA's) Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) 1.0.2, having passed the Conformance Testing Program (SNIA-CTP). SMI-S is a management protocol that allows multivendor software support of heterogeneous storage devices. The NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider, combined with NetApp unified storage systems and industry-leading heterogeneous storage area network (SAN) management solutions, offers customers simplicity, scalability, and affordability to improve storage management. The provider will be made available by arrangement through the NetApp Advantage Developer Program in late 2004.

The NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider is a valuable addition to the NetApp open APIs, allowing companies to create heterogeneous management applications that support NetApp and enhance the breadth of integrated solutions offered to customers. A key benefit of the tool is the convenience it affords customers to utilize the same interface to manage a wide variety of storage systems in complex heterogeneous environments without having to utilize proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs). Customers have the ability to discover, visualize, and easily monitor their SAN environment and provide configuration tasks, including logical unit number (LUN) provisioning through a unified view, reducing overall management burden and complexity.

"SMI-S support is beneficial to vendors and end users alike," said Nancy Marrone-Hurley, senior analyst, Enterprise Storage Group. "By supporting SMI-S, NetApp can reduce the time to market with their compliant solutions while providing users with flexible management options, which ultimately helps reduce operational costs. Support of SMI-S should be very important to end users as they make purchasing decisions regarding storage systems and storage management solutions."

In response to enterprise customer demand to support solutions from Network Appliance, more than seven companies, including some of the largest software vendors, are actively supporting the NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider being offered through the NetApp Advantage Developer Program, including leading storage management vendors such as AppIQ, Computer Associates, CreekPath, Invio, McDATA, Softek, and VERITAS. NetApp is working with these vendors to make storage management easier for enterprise customers with ever-growing needs for flexible storage solutions.

"Customers want simplicity when managing their data storage infrastructures and gain significant benefits from tightly integrated solutions," said Mark Santora, senior vice president of Marketing at Network Appliance. "Increased SMI-S support from NetApp in SAN environments will enable enterprise customers to manage their data with existing management applications, while meeting business requirements for performance and availability, resulting in a higher return on infrastructure investment."

"The SNIA is happy that the NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider has passed the SNIA Conformance Testing Program," said Ray Dunn, chair of the SNIA Storage Management Forum. "Having a product that passes this testing program provides end users with the trust that Network Appliance has implemented SMI-S 1.0.2 accurately so it will deliver the full benefits of the specification--that it will make multivendor storage environments simpler to implement and easier to manage."

NetApp is committed to developing and delivering standardized interfaces and is a leading participant in SNIA's technical workgroups. Together they work to develop next-generation standards-based interfaces such as SMI-S. Other existing management interfaces that NetApp customers and partners rely on include ONTAPI(TM) (the NetApp open API interface), Open System SnapVault(TM), SNMP, and NDMP.

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance is a world leader in unified storage solutions for today's data-intensive enterprise. Since its inception in 1992, Network Appliance has delivered technology, product, and partner firsts that continue to drive "The evolution of storage.(TM)" Information about Network Appliance(TM) solutions and services is available at www.netapp.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

The statement regarding availability is a forward looking statement within the means of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include any statement regarding future events or the future financial performance of Network Appliance, Inc. that involves risks or uncertainties. In evaluating these statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated, including without limitation: continuing decline in the general economic conditions, customer demand for products and services, customer acceptance of product architectures, increased competition, and other important factors as described in Network Appliance, Inc. reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its mostly recently submitted 10-K and 10-Q.

NetApp and the Network Appliance logo are registered trademarks and Network Appliance, ONTAPI, SnapVault, and The evolution of storage are trademarks of Network Appliance Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

Editorial Addendum: Partner Quotes

Partners

AppIQ

"It is natural for AppIQ to support the NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider since we codeveloped the provider with Network Appliance, and our award-winning storage area management solution, AppIQ StorageAuthority Suite, is built natively on the SMI-S standard," said Tom Rose, vice president of Marketing at AppIQ. "We're delighted that Network Appliance is using AppIQ's management software to preview the provider during the SNW interoperability lab, as this proves that our collaboration with Network Appliance is addressing customers' demands for simpler, more cost-effective management of storage infrastructures."

CA

"CA has worked closely with the SNIA to develop and promote SMI-S, and we have maintained a strong working relationship with Network Appliance over the years," said Jim Geronaitis, vice president of Brightstor Storage Management at CA. "The standards-based integration between our respective solutions will greatly help IT organizations reduce storage costs and maximize data protection through multivendor, best-in-class storage architectures."

CreekPath Systems

"The Network Appliance collaboration with CreekPath Systems enables both companies to provide value to customers by offering plug-and-play capabilities for heterogeneous storage support through the SMI-S standard," said Mike Pardun, vice president of Strategic Development, CreekPath Systems. "With the introduction of the NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 compliant provider, we can depend upon a consistent, structured interface for tightly integrated solutions that help our customers improve management of their storage infrastructures."

Invio Software

"Many of our customers that are automating their service delivery processes are also looking to leverage the benefits of NetApp unified storage," said Tad Lebeck, chief technology officer at Invio Software. "Industry standards such as SMI-S are designed to help ensure true interoperability and overcome a potential roadblock to widespread adoption. Invio was one of the first companies to announce its support for the SMI-S open storage specification; we are pleased to join with Network Appliance as participants in this important industry initiative."

McDATA

"McDATA is pleased to partner with NetApp to jointly address customers' needs for solutions that leverage and improve the power of their data and storage management and SAN infrastructure," said Jonathan Buckley, vice president of Software Platforms, McDATA. "Through the SMI-S standard like this and McDATA's SMI-S/API strategy, customers now have greater flexibility of choice at their fingertips."

Softek

"As a board member of the SNIA, Softek is a strong proponent of standards for storage management," said Karen Dutch, vice president of Product Management at Softek. "Using the NetApp SMI-S 1.0.2 provider enables Softek to manage NetApp devices using an industry standard interface. This makes it easier for us to provide broad hardware support and gives our customers choice in management solutions for heterogeneous storage environments."

VERITAS

"VERITAS and Network Appliance are bringing together integrated enterprise-wide storage management solutions for our mutual customers," said Bob Maness, senior director, product marketing, VERITAS Software. "Supporting the new SNIA standard will help our customers maintain independence, flexibility, and assure compatibility among heterogeneous storage devices, gaining greater value from their storage infrastructures."