NetApp pledges continued channel focus

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) has used its Insight Partner event in Prague this week to outline its commitment to a channel centric model, and dismissed the potential of significant new threat from an EMC (NYSE:EMC) bolstered by its acquisition of Isilon
(NASDAQ:ISLN).
Based on new data from IDC, NetApp has around 16 percent of the EMEA storage market. It believes at its current growth, it will be become the leading storage and data management provider by 2012. Although the market is currently led by EMC with 26 percent share, NetApp has, over the last two years, been the fastest growing of the big four – which includes an IBM that has haemorrhaged storage customers.
No competition
With 90 percent of NetApp EMEA revenues coming from partners, the firm is clear that it has no plans to jeopardise that position. “In the past two years we have moved away from increasing our professional services teams because we want our partner community to do that,” explains Julie Parish, VP Worldwide channel sales for NetApp. “If you start going down that path you become HP and end up competing with your partners.
“[Storage] is a critical component, we don’t compete on professional services, we are not bringing our own cloud services – we have been committed and dedicated to that model and no other vendor can say that.”
Acquisitions
Parish also dismisses the potential for the new Isilon / EMC combo to threaten its growth: “Given Isilon’s size and the amount we were seeing them in the market it’s hard for us to say ‘oh my gosh this is terrible news!’
“Isilon is primarily channel – so you’re a Isilon channel partner, dedicated your life to selling Isilon and have invested heavily – you have just got bought by EMC who have shown exactly no loyalty to the channel ever – ever!”
On the HP acquisition of 3Par, Parish comments: “When a very big company acquires a very small company that was channel focused there is a huge risk. How does that technology relate, is it diluted?”
Parish points out that the market “from a wall street perspective” does not seem to view these acquisitions as a good thing in the long run.
With the rise of virtualisation, Parish is keen to enforce that its partnership with VMware is strong, even with rival EMC as its largest shareholder. “Heterogeneous is [VMware’s] strength and they have to stay that way,” she cautions.
Refresh
NetApp has had a major refresh of its product line with more software elements but with a reduction in the number of SKUs to help simplify its offering. Parish believes that the opportunity has never been greater for partners: “Your customers are going through transition; it’s a fact that the technology sitting there is two to four years old and has to be changed out.
“The partner is the only one that can bring together all the technologies to help get the customer to that future ready, efficient kind of infrastructure.”