NetApp Backs Virtualization Guarantee With $1 Million Challenge to Help Customer Use 50% Less Storage

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - September 1, 2009) - VMworld 2009 -- NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced its $1 Million Virtualization Challenge contest to award NetApp® storage hardware, software, and services to a qualifying new customer to reduce the company's storage usage by 50% in a VMware® environment.

Launched in September 2008, the NetApp Virtualization Guarantee Program offers customers a guarantee* that they will use 50% less storage in their virtual environments with NetApp compared to traditional storage. NetApp is now taking the guarantee a step further by offering up to $1 million of NetApp technology and services to a new NetApp customer to further prove NetApp's efficiency in VMware environments. As part of the challenge, an independent third party will benchmark and measure the impact of NetApp's storage.

"We're confident that customers will use 50% less storage with NetApp, so we're willing to put our money where our mouth is with the $1 Million Virtualization Challenge contest," said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing at NetApp. "Customers are proving that NetApp storage-efficiency technologies such as thin provisioning, deduplication, RAID-DP®, and Snapshot™ can help realize unprecedented space savings in virtual infrastructures. This is a great opportunity for a company that is facing the pressure of cost reduction to address its storage challenges and demonstrate the business impact of its NetApp and VMware environment."

Eligibility and Requirements

To enter NetApp's $1 Million Virtualization Challenge contest, an entrant must be a new NetApp customer and in good standing as a corporation that is incorporated and registered to do business in an eligible state as further described in and subject to the eligibility rules and requirements found at www.NetApp.com/MillionDollarChallenge. All entries must be received by September 21, 2009. The select customer will be chosen by Network World and a NetApp committee and be awarded up to $1 million of NetApp hardware, software, and services. To enter and read more details about the NetApp $1 Million Virtualization Challenge contest, visit www.NetApp.com/MillionDollarChallenge.

For more information on the NetApp Virtualization Guarantee, visit www.netapp.com/guarantee, where you can access program details including FAQs, technical resources, best practices, and the new NetApp Storage Efficiency Calculator to evaluate your current environment and learn how NetApp storage efficiency technologies can lead to higher storage utilization.

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.

*This guarantee and related Program are limited to the terms set forth in www.netapp.com/guarantee applicable only to prospective orders placed after the Program effective date and are dependent upon your compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in this document and any of the instruction sets and specifications set forth in the referenced documents. NetApp's sole and exclusive liability and your sole and exclusive remedy associated with the terms of this guarantee and related Program is the provision by NetApp of the additional storage capacity as set forth in this guarantee and related Program.

NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, RAID-DP, and Snapshot are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

Contact Information: Press Contact: Roger Villareal NetApp (408) 822-1959 rogerv@netapp.com