Network Appliance Rolls Out New Release of Company's Dedicated Data-Access Operating Software; Release 3.1 Delivers Significantly Improved Network Connectivity, Administration and Reliability; Compatible With All Network Appliance DataAccess Servers

Business Wire, Jan 30, 1996

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 1996--Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), innovators in the data-access server market, today announced the availability of Release 3.1, a significant new version of the company's dedicated data access operating software.

The new version runs on all Network Appliance filer products, including the NetApp F220 data access server also announced today. Release 3.1 can also be field-installed on all previously shipped filers.

NetApp operating software provides fast access to network data, simple administration and reliable data storage. It is comprised of a number of software modules, or layers, that quickly route file-level data from storage devices such as SCSI drives, to network interfaces such as Ethernet or FDDI, where it can be accessed by a user. This approach results in the shortest path between clients and network data. Unlike general purpose server operating systems, such as UNIX or Windows NT, NetApp operating software is optimized exclusively for fast file-access services. Moreover, with integrated RAID technology, NetApp servers deliver highly reliable operation, with no impact on server performance.

Release 3.1 provides a number of new features that enhance the performance of NetApp servers, including NFS over TCP, for better server performance over high-speed LANs and WANs; extended management information base (MIB) for SNMP support, which facilitates collection of client- and server-side statistics; and PCNFSD to provide PC NFS clients with authentication services. In addition, the new release delivers higher reliability through RAID disk-scrubbing and faster RAID reconstruction, enhanced backup capabilities, and a significant boost in data-restore speed.

"The NetApp operating software is a key component in our file-server appliance approach," said Dan Warmenhoven, president and CEO at Network Appliance. "By developing operating software that's optimized for, and dedicated to NFS file management -- running on industry-compliant hardware -- we're able to significantly improve server performance and functionality. With Release 3.1, we have increased the speed and manageability of the entire NetApp product family -- from the original FAServer 400 to today's state-of-the-art NetApp F220 and F330. Users will enjoy higher system reliability and availability, and better overall network application performance, by simply upgrading to the new software."

With Release 3.1 operating software, a NetApp F330 (the company's current department level NFS data access server) can be upgraded to support up to four disk shelves and 108GB of disk storage (see accompanying press release detailing the NetApp F220).

Release 3.1 marks Network Appliance's support for NFS over TCP which delivers reliable data access over wide-area networks. This new functionality will significantly improve the performance of client-server applications in many organizations since NFS over TCP enables clients and servers to operate in complex network topologies.

Extended MIB represents a significant enhancement in release 3.1. With it, system administrators using an SNMP-based network management tool can collect more statistics on configuration, performance and accounting management. In addition, Release 3.1 provides NFS statistics on each network client. This enables system administrators to more conveniently monitor NetApp filers for capacity-planning purposes.

Release 3.1's PCNFSD facility eliminates dependency upon third-party UNIX hosts to provide authentication services. This enables easier access to NetApp filers for PC clients on the network.

RAID disk scrubbing enhances filer reliability by detecting media errors during normal filer operation, and proactively eliminates them. Such problems would otherwise result in disk failure, leading to unanticipated downtime. Another key feature enhancing reliability is Release 3.1's faster RAID-reconstruction capability. In a heavily-loaded filer, this means a four-fold improvement compared to Release 3.0.

A new feature in Release 3.1 enables users to backup multiple sub-directory trees onto one file. For system administrators this translates into backing up data more conveniently on a project basis versus a traditional, and more time-consuming full-file system backup.

The new release also delivers a significantly faster speed for back-up and restore performance, and improvements to preventative maintenance.

Release 3.1 software is available in February, and is compatible with every Network Appliance server ever shipped. Customers on the current release thread (3.X) will receive the software at no charge.

About NetApp Operating Software

The NetApp operating software technology is compact, highly efficient operating software, optimized to provide fast network data access, simple administration and reliable data storage. It is comprised of a number of software modules, or layers, that quickly route data from storage devices, such as SCSI drives, to network interfaces, such as Ethernet or FDDI, where it can be accessed by a user.