Network Appliance Joins ISMA to Advance Open Standards for Internet Streaming Media

Business Wire, Jan 22, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2002

Network Appliance, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP), the leading provider of network-attached data access and content delivery solutions, today announced it has expanded its effort to advance the open standards and interoperability of streaming media over Internet Protocol (IP) networks by joining the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA). Network Appliance will continue to develop and promote industry specifications that will strengthen ISMA's "one standard -- one code" approach to receiving and delivering streaming media.

Network Appliance will collaborate with other ISMA members, including industry experts in content management, distribution, infrastructure, and rich media creation, to promote open standards such as ISMA 1.0, a specification designed to accelerate adoption of IETF and MPEG-4 standards for Internet streaming.

"Since its inception, Network Appliance has championed open standards, giving customers interoperability with best of breed solutions," said Amit Pandey, senior director of marketing for the content delivery business unit, Network Appliance. "Network Appliance has furthered this commitment and added momentum to ISMA's progress by contributing its streaming and data management expertise to better enable global enterprises to deploy and benefit from powerful streaming applications."

"The open-standards approach of ISMA is intended to reduce costs for streaming media customers by allowing them to select solutions from multiple vendors and better tailor system purchases to fit their budgets and needs," said Tom Jacobs, president, ISMA. "ISMA values the industry leadership, expertise in open standards, and vision Network Appliance brings as a new member, and is confident the company will undoubtedly boost the development and adoption of ISMA specifications."

Network Appliance will launch its new membership by joining other ISMA participants at the alliance's first annual meeting on February 5 in New York to demonstrate interoperability among the ISMA member solutions.

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance, Inc., a leader in network data storage and content delivery, has been providing data access solutions since 1992, and is a member of both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 index. Major corporations and service providers, including Citicorp Securities, Lockheed, Merrill Lynch, Oracle, Texas Instruments, and Yahoo! utilize NetApp(R) global data management solutions.

The company pioneered the concept of the "network appliance," an extension of the industry trend toward dedicated, specialized products that perform a single function. NetApp storage and content delivery platforms (filers and NetCache(R) appliances) are coupled with powerful content distribution and reporting software. This Center-to-Edge(TM) solution offers seamless data management from the back-end data center to the edge of the network quickly, simply, and reliably. The Network Appliance(TM) product portfolio utilizes the company's innovative data access software, known as the Data ONTAP(TM) operating system, as well as standards-compliant hardware. It also offers multiprotocol support and transparent integration for UNIX(R) and Windows(R) environments.

NetApp and NetCache are registered trademarks and Network Appliance, Data ONTAP, and Center-to-Edge are trademarks of Network Appliance, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.