NetApp to Acquire Bycast Inc.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-April 7,
2010-NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced that it has
entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bycast Inc., a
privately held company headquartered in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, in an all-cash transaction.
Bycast is a leading developer of object-based
storage software designed to manage petabyte-scale, globally
distributed repositories of images, video, and records for
enterprises and service providers. Customers whose business depends
on access to critical data across geographically distributed
locations rely on Bycast to better share and retain content
anywhere, any time to quickly respond to their changing business
requirements. Founded more than 10 years ago, Bycast has helped
more than 250 customers worldwide dramatically improve their
operational efficiency and reduce the administrative burden of
managing massive quantities of data across multiple
geographies.
Bycast extends NetApp's leadership position
in unified storage by adding an object-based storage software
offering. Object-based storage is a new and emerging approach to
storing and accessing data based on object names and rich metadata
that describes the content in greater detail, which simplifies the
task of large-scale object storage while improving the ability to
quickly search and locate data objects.
For example, a media company can use an
object-based storage solution to provide its graphic artists around
the world with the ability to simultaneously access data and
collaborate on common projects. Object-based storage interfaces
greatly simplify the administration of the storage used for this
purpose. With the acquisition of Bycast, NetApp broadens its
capabilities in serving key verticals such as digital media, Web
2.0, healthcare, and cloud services providers and helps customers
create even greater efficiencies across data centers around the
globe.
"Bycast extends our unified storage strategy
and enhances our solution for shared storage infrastructure by
adding new capabilities for global data access and mobility," said
Manish Goel, executive vice president, Product Operations, NetApp.
"The addition of Bycast's products enables NetApp to offer our
enterprise customers and service provider partners a complementary
solution that enables them to efficiently build and manage a very
large-scale global repository of data central to many
IT-as-a-service offerings."
Portfolio and People
Synergy
Bycast enables NetApp to expand into new opportunities and markets
for petabyte-scale, billion-object content repositories. In
addition to its products, Bycast brings to NetApp valuable
technology and talented employees. Bycast employees' technical
expertise, experience, and support of their customers create
powerful synergies with the NetApp culture, values, and commitment
to customer success. Bycast's Vancouver headquarters will become a
technology center for NetApp and will be responsible for existing
Bycast products and future product development.
As a proven market leader in the storage
industry, NetApp provides Bycast immediate enterprise credibility.
In addition, NetApp's global sales organization and partnerships
will expand the delivery of the Bycast portfolio and enable broader
market reach to enterprise customers, service providers,
international markets, and additional vertical markets to drive
adoption and success of its products.
"We are excited and look forward to joining
the NetApp team," said Moe Kermani, CEO of Bycast. "We share a
complementary vision and a common dedication to excellence.
Together we will offer customers the best-in-class content
repository solutions that further their drive toward a unified
storage infrastructure."
The acquisition is expected to close in May
2010, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing
conditions.
About Bycast
Bycast is the leading provider of advanced storage virtualization
software for large-scale digital archives and storage clouds. For
organizations whose business depends on access to vital data,
Bycast protects and preserves digital assets over their lifetime.
To learn more about the company and its solutions, visit www.Bycast.com.
About NetApp
NetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions
that accelerate business breakthroughs and deliver outstanding cost
efficiency. Discover our passion for helping companies around the
world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.
Press Contacts:
Roger Villareal
NetApp
(415) 336-5972
rogerv@netapp.com
Rachel York
Max Australia
+61 2 9954 3492
rachel.york@maxaustralia.com.au
Forward Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements include the anticipated benefits to be obtained
from NetApp's acquisition of Bycast, including Bycast's product
capabilities and compatibility and the expected timing of the
completion of the acquisition. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary.
Factors that could impact our ability to achieve our goals include
our ability to successfully integrate Bycast's operations and
products with our own; the future success of both companies'
product lines; general economic and industry conditions, including
expenditure trends for storage-related products; our ability to
deliver new product architectures and products that meet market
acceptance; our ability to design products that compete effectively
from a price and performance perspective; and other important
factors as described in NetApp reports and documents filed from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.