Network Appliance Acquires Decru
Sunnyvale, Calif. - June 16, 2005 -
Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), the leader in advanced
networked storage solutions, today announced that it has entered
into a definitive agreement to acquire Decru, a privately held
company based in Redwood City, California, for approximately $272
million in cash and stock. Decru is a clear market leader in
storage security, offering data protection solutions to address a
range of needs for enterprises and governments, including
regulatory compliance, privacy, secure consolidation, and
outsourcing. Decru DataFort™ appliances protect the core of
the storage network by seamlessly inserting a layer of strong
encryption, authentication, access controls, and
compartmentalization.
"In an era where data is a precious asset and
security threats to that data are accelerating, encryption is a key
element of any data infrastructure," said Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of
Network Appliance, Inc. "Recent, highly public mishaps point to the
need for companies and governments to more effectively protect
sensitive business, employee, partner, customer, and intelligence
data. Decru has established an early lead in the data security
space. The combination of Decru with NetApp strengthens our own
data protection portfolio and gives more customers the opportunity
to purchase Decru products with the confidence that they'll get the
support, service, and continuous innovation that distinguish NetApp
in data management."
Over the last year, NetApp and Decru together
have delivered many collaborative solutions designed to help
companies and various government organizations safeguard their data
and comply with a plethora of regulations that have recently taken
effect. These solutions combine Decru DataFort appliances with
NetApp® storage. But Decru DataFort solutions are not limited
to NetApp storage and in fact can be deployed transparently with a
wide variety of vendors' storage systems in NAS, DAS, SAN, iSCSI,
and even tape backup environments. Deploying Decru appliances
requires no changes to servers, desktops, applications, or user
workflow, making Decru solutions easy and fast for customers to
integrate into their existing infrastructures.
Decru solutions provide encryption at wire
speeds, enabling maximum protection with no performance sacrifice.
And unlike firewalls and network security, which protect the
network perimeter and "data in motion," Decru systems protect "data
at rest" behind the firewall, which is where recent United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) studies show up to 80% of all
data attacks occur.
For Network Appliance, the acquisition of
Decru augments the company's already impressive lineup of data
protection solutions including
>NearStore®
systems for disk backup and recovery; various SnapSuite™
software offerings for data replication, mirroring, and
restoration;
NetCache® systems and associated software for
protection from Internet viruses and attacks; and
LockVault™, which helps provide the
technology foundation for safeguarding regulated data.
The acquisition also complements the recent
NetApp acquisition of Alacritus and expands the company's ability
to deliver advanced data protection solutions for hard disk storage
as well as tape and virtual tape environments.
Finally, with Decru, NetApp continues to
expand its ability to "front end" multivendor (or heterogeneous)
storage systems from various third-party vendors in the storage
arena. Just as the newly enhanced NetApp
V-Series systems virtualize a myriad of storage
systems, NetApp and Decru solutions are also capable of protecting
data stored on third-party disk and tape systems.
Since January 2004, NetApp and Decru have
worked together to deliver solutions to customers in sectors
including investment banking, healthcare, semiconductors, software,
and the federal government. On June 7, NetApp and Decru jointly
announced an integrated turnkey platform for secure processing and
storage of credit card data in compliance with Visa and Mastercard
Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards.
Decru was founded in 2001 and has raised more
than $45 million in venture financing from Benchmark Capital,
Greylock, New Enterprise Associates, In-Q-Tel, and others.
Additional information on Decru is available at www.Decru.com.
The acquisition is expected to close by
October, 2005 subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals
and other customary closing conditions. Decru will form a new
business unit within NetApp. Decru remains committed to maintaining
and furthering its deep relationships with heterogeneous storage
vendors and networking vendors.
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 simplify data management. Information about Network
Appliance solutions and services is available at
www.netapp.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
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 the Company's acquisition of Decru 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 Decru's operations and
products with 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 Network Appliance, Inc.'s reports and documents filed
from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our most recently submitted 10-K and 10-Q.
Press Contacts:
Eric Brown
Network Appliance, Inc.
(408) 822-3463
ebrown@netapp.com
Jodi Baumann
Network Appliance, Inc.
(408) 822-3974
jodi.baumann@netapp.com
PR Hotline: 408-822-3287
xdl-uspr@netapp.com
Investor Contact:
Tara Calhoun
Network Appliance, Inc.
(408) 822-6909
tara.calhoun@netapp.com