Sunnyvale, CA - September 19, 2005 - Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced that it experienced the fastest growth among the top five vendors in storage software with 49.4% year over year growth from Q2'04 to Q2'05 versus a market growth rate of 11.8% for the same period. NetApp also moved from the number five position to tie with HP for a finish in the top four vendors. Total NetApp market share in storage software grew from 5% in Q2 2004 to 6.6% in Q2 2005. Additional details are available in IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker Q2 2005.

"We are grateful to all our customers who recognize that NetApp is a data management leader with a compelling software portfolio," said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Products and Partners at Network Appliance. "IDC's market share figures confirm what our leading customers and partners have known for a while-NetApp is far more than a hardware systems company. Whether a customer needs storage software for backup and recovery, compliance, storage consolidation, or simply easier and faster management of far-flung and massive data deployments, NetApp has a solution to reduce their IT infrastructure burden and simplify their operations."

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 market and market share trends that benefit the Company, continued customer acceptance, and adoption rates of the Company's solutions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary. Factors that could impact our ability to achieve our goals include 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 Contact:
Jodi Baumann
Network Appliance
(408) 822-3974
Jodi.Baumann@netapp.com

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