Often the trade press is filled with regurgitated press releases which don’t give a very good analysis of the companies and strategies that are winning customers and markets. But I just read a very good article that I would suggest you read.
NetApp has been losing both mind and market share to the more aggressive EMC, which has partnered with Cisco. With Oracle having acquired Sun (and with it, Sun’s storage business) and HP expected to start building its own storage systems, there are few takers for NetApp. As a result, the company’s only option was to start buying up smaller but fast-growing players such as Data Domain. For the longest time the knock on NetApp was that it wasn’t able to buy and digest companies, as best evidenced by its struggles with its Decru and Spinnaker acquisitions. Now it’s being straight-up outbid by EMC, which is offering cash. EMC, sensing blood, wants to run NetApp out of town.
Our business is growing in the tough economy because individuals and the market are recognizing that there is value in maintaining their reliable legacy equipment. The battle for Data Domain may be a harbinger of things to come. But my crystal ball on this subject remains cloudy.
But as budgets remain tight, I expect more companies to ask for lower cost service and support for their enterprise storage systems.