Network Appliance Ranked Number One in Computer Peripherals Industry on Fortune's 2007 List of "America's Most Admired Companies"

Business Wire, March 5, 2007

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), a leader in advanced network storage solutions, announced today that it is the most admired company in the computer peripherals industry on FORTUNE's 2007 list of "America's Most Admired Companies." NetApp earned an overall score of 8.10, and achieved an industry number-one ranking in each of the following eight areas: innovation; ability to attract, develop, and keep talented people; financial soundness; use of corporate assets; social responsibility; quality of management; long-term investment value; and quality of products and services.

"We are pleased to have been recognized by our peers for our corporate reputation in an industry-leading magazine such as FORTUNE," said Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of Network Appliance. "NetApp has always had a reputation for innovation, in our products and in our business, but to be recognized for qualities such as social responsibility; attracting, keeping, and developing talented employees; and business acumen is truly an honor."

The list and related stories appear in the March 19 issue of FORTUNE, on newsstands March 12 and currently available online at www.fortune.com.

The "Most Admired" list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations. The magazine's survey partners at Hay Group started with the FORTUNE 1,000--the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue--and the top foreign ones operating in the United States. Hay sorted them by industry and selected the 10 largest in each. To create the 63 industry lists, Hay asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on eight criteria, from investment value to social responsibility. Only the best are listed: a company's score must rank in the top half of its industry survey.

To create the top 20, an overall list of most admired companies, Hay Group asked the 3,322 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the top 10 companies they admired. They chose from a list of companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year's survey, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry. The difference in voting rolls is why some results can seem anomalous; for example, Southwest Airlines is one of the top five most admired companies but is second in its own industry.

A total of 616 companies in 68 industries were surveyed. Due to insufficient response, the results of 29 companies in seven industries are not reported: healthcare, pharmacy and other services, home equipment, furnishings, precision equipment, tobacco, and printing. Thus, 3M is number 14 on the overall list even though its industry--precision equipment--did not have enough responses to merit a category.

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance is a world leader in unified storage solutions for today's data-intensive enterprise. Since its inception in 1992, Network Appliance has delivered technology, product, and partner firsts that simplify data management. Information about Network Appliance[TM] solutions and services is available at www.netapp.com.

NetApp is a registered trademark and Network Appliance is a trademark of Network Appliance Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.