Network Appliance Inc. (NetApp) revealed this morning that it is
filing suit against Sun Microsystems Inc., seeking an injunction
against distribution of Sun's Zettabyte File System (ZFS) software
and unspecified damages.
According to storage industry analysts, a NetApp victory could
have severe, possibly doomsday ramifications for Sun's storage
business.
NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven and co-founder Dave Hitz told reporters
in a conference call Wednesday morning that Sun first approached
NetApp 18 months ago, claiming that NetApp's products violated
three patents relating to ZFS, which Sun had acquired when it
bought StorageTek in 2005.
NetApp officials said Sun did not specify which NetApp products in
particular violated the patents. But, according to a NetApp press
release, "Sun's aggressive demand that we license some of their IP
caused us to examine carefully whether we were infringing their IP
rights and whether they might be infringing ours."
"[Sun] shifted from an aggressive position to not returning
calls," Hitz said. Over the past few months, Sun also opened the
source code of ZFS, and this appears to have been the last straw
for NetApp. "It goes beyond using our patents and demanding that we
pay them a lot of money. They've also essentially begun giving away
NetApp IP for people to use for free [with the open source
initiative]."
The patents in question include methods and techniques for error
correction, software RAID and, according to the NetApp complaint,
the method for maintaining consistent states of a file system and
for creating user accessible read-only copies of a file system. "We
want them to stop developing ZFS, stop distributing [it] and stop
doing derivative works with it in particular," Warmenhoven
said.
Far-reaching implications
NetApp officials insisted that the suit will not affect existing
interoperability and support agreements between the two vendors.
However, according to storage analysts, a victory in this lawsuit
for NetApp could have far-reaching effects -- not just for Sun but
for the storage market in general.
"This does have doomsday ramifications for Sun, potentially,"
especially since Sun has been making ZFS the heart of its disk
storage business and touting its plans to make the software open
source, according to Steve Duplessie, founder and analyst with the
Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). It's clear that to prop up its
storage business, Sun needs to show technology leadership and
intellectual property beyond its OEM products. In the company's
last earnings call, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said that Sun's
homegrown IP would be the emphasis for product development going
forward.
However, a win for NetApp could have a ripple effect on other
vendors. "Everybody has copy on write and snapshot features now,"
Duplessie said. "If NetApp wins this suit, it's possible that
everybody ends up having to license snapshots."
Industry watchers pointed out that it's too soon to tell what
the merits of the lawsuit are and where agendas lie. "There's very
little downside for NetApp in all this," Duplessie pointed out.
"Even if they don't win, the worst case is that it'll bring
attention and a whole bunch of marketing around features of its
products."
Update: Sun counterattacks
Sun officials initially did not respond to requests seeking
comment on NetApp's announcement, but sent out the following
statement late Wednesday:
NetApp's legal attack against Sun's open source ZFS
solution which is freely available in the marketplace is a clear
indication that NetApp considers Sun technology a threat, and is a
direct attack on the open source community…Many of the claims
raised in the lawsuit are factually untrue. For example, it was
NetApp who first approached Sun seeking to acquire the Sun patents
NetApp is now attempting to invalidate. It is unfortunate that
NetApp has now resorted to resolving its business issues in a legal
jurisdiction (East Texas) long favored by 'patent
trolls.'
"If you are a fan of ZFS and open [source], you would probably
take the side which Sun will position to that NetApp is being a
bully against Sun, ZFS and open source," said Greg Schulz, founder
and analyst with the StorageIO Group. "On the other hand, the other
extreme is that you could say Sun is desperate for revenue as it
embarks on new business models built around open source with
uncharted revenue streams."
There's common ground somewhere in between, Schulz said, but he
added, "This is sounding more and more like a he said/she said
story, [and it's] not surprising that they need to present the case
in a court."