Independent Research Study Finds Network Appliance™ IP SAN Storage Solutions Can Provide Compelling Positive Return on Investment
Sunnyvale, Calif. - August 19, 2004 --
Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) released a new commissioned
Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study that
estimates a sample organization using Network Appliance IP SAN has
a risk-adjusted 116% return on investment (ROI) over a three-year
period, a break-even point (payback period) within 13.5 months, and
a risk-adjusted cost savings of approximately $650,000 in a
three-year window. The total three-year cost savings for a sample
IP SAN customer related specifically to improvements in end-user
productivity due to faster restores of Microsoft® Exchange,
CRM, and SQL Server data to end users.
"Forrester's TEI study validates what our current IP SAN customers
already know-NetApp helps them leverage existing IT investments and
lower their total cost of ownership without compromising
performance, manageability, or reliability," said Patrick Rogers,
vice president of marketing at Network Appliance.
The study was based on in-depth interviews with six organizations
using Network Appliance IP SAN solutions, including support and
services. Based on the interviews of these six organizations, there
were common values within each of the users and each experienced
the following benefits related to its investment in NetApp IP SAN
solutions:
- Offers the advantages of a SAN without the
complexity and expense of Fibre Channel
- Allows their organizations to leverage
existing IP network investments, including familiar network
management tools
- Offers a cost-effective alternative to
direct-attached storage (DAS) in areas of the IT infrastructure
where Fibre Channel would be economically unfeasible
- Significant cost savings over DAS relative to
storage installation, consolidation, maintenance, and streamlined
data management processes
From this study, Forrester Consulting found IP
SANs are ideal for consolidating relatively large numbers of
smaller, less powerful application servers. Further, Forrester
found that NetApp IP SAN solutions solved a number of problems or
issues that are summarized below in order of relative importance to
its interviewed customers:
- Reduced operating costs - this was the primary
reason cited by the six organizations for investing in NetApp IP
SAN solutions
- Simplified storage administration and
management, and streamlined data management processes
- Improved storage system reliability
- Scalability allows for storage capacity
additions without downtime
- Increased performance
Full details of the study and economic
analysis are available at:
http://www.netapp.com/tech_library/ftp/analyst/ar1024.pdf.
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 provided fast, simple and reliable solutions
that continue to drive "The evolution of storage.™"
Information about Network Appliance solutions and services is
available at www.netapp.com.
Contact:
Tiffany Curci
Voce Communications, Inc. for Network Appliance Inc.
(208) 725-2062
tcurci@vocepr.com