Network Appliance's (NetApp) momentum in the
storage area network (SAN) space may be
waning, according to the results of a recent survey of 100 IT
executives from Fortune 1000 companies by Wall Street investment
firm The Goldman Sachs Group.
The results of the survey showed a decrease of respondents
saying they planned to evaluate NetApp SAN products in Feb. 2007 as
opposed to Aug. 2006, when 18% of respondents said they were
"currently evaluating NetApp's SAN products but have not yet
decided if I will move forward with the purchase," compared with
11% in the most recent survey. The decrease does not mean a
commensurate boost in the number of respondents answering that they
were already using or planning to purchase a NetApp SAN in the next
12 months; the number of respondents answering they were already
using NetApp SANs rose from 9% to 11%, and those planning purchases
increased from 3% to 5%.
More strikingly, the number of respondents between the two surveys
reporting that they "currently use NetApp only for network attached
storage (NAS) environment and do not plan on purchasing their
products for use in a SAN environment" rose from 2% to 13%, while
the number of respondents indicating they "do not use NetApp, and I
have no plans on using their products in SAN installations," ticked
up from 42% to 43%.
"It appears that NetApp's move into the SAN market is meeting
some resistance despite its dominant position in NAS," the report's
analysis of the numbers reads. "On the plus side, just over 40% of
the respondents that are candidates for NetApp's SAN offerings have
purchased or are planning on purchasing these products, up slightly
from our August 2006 survey. However, the biggest shift between
these two surveys is a steep decline in the number of respondents
that are currently evaluating NetApp's SAN offerings and a
corresponding increase in current customers that are only planning
on using its NAS products and have no plans to even evaluate its
SAN lineup."
Meanwhile, the report stated, "IBM and EMC remain the decisive
winners for the second straight survey. For IBM, its rise to the
top position [within the results] highlights the company's relative
strength in midrange storage and tape, and is probably increasingly
a reflection of IBM's partnership with Network Appliance as well.
EMC, coming off a strong December quarter and with its wide-ranging
lineup of storage hardware, software and services, has moved back
firmly into the share-gainer category … [while] Network Appliance
was neutral in this survey."
"It is hard to comment on this research since I have no insight
to their methodology," wrote Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Tony
Asaro in an email to SearchStorage.com. "However, since the survey
participants are 100 managers (a small sample set) of Fortune 1000
companies, this makes sense -- it is harder for NetApp to unseat
Fibre Channel incumbents within these type of companies. That is
why NetApp partnered with IBM."
Asaro said the results don't match with what he's heard from
users. "NetApp is winning lots of SAN deals," he said.
However, he added, "This report does call out a big challenge
for NetApp. Within large enterprise companies, NetApp is not
strongly associated for SAN solutions … IBM can help, but the
relationship with them is not a panacea … they have a long way to
go to change this and it will take time."
A spokesperson for NetApp declined comment, saying the company
is barred by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
regulations from commenting on financial analyst reports.