NetApp. The big engine that could

The latest IDC figures were out on Dec 3, 2010.

Storage numbers are growing because of the voracious appetite for data. We create more, we store more. We learn more, we store more. We (insert XXXX here), we store more. Are you beginning to get the picture?

Storage is sexy but that was not the case 6-8 years ago. Storage was so boring and the data management guy was the least popular guy in IT until something happened to your data.

And interestingly, in these past 6-8 years, NetApp has been chugging like a juggernaut, proving critics wrong. It has moved into the 3rd spot behind EMC and IBM. And NetApp is still growing very fast, outpacing market growth quarter after quarter, year after year.



When I was at NetApp in 2000, we were still in the 8th spot. HP, HDS and even Dell were ahead of us. When I left in 2006, NetApp was in the 6th spot, with Dell in 5th spot. Today, they are 3rd. That's a fantastic achievement for a company that has grown to almost USD 5 billion in sales and yet, they are as nimble as ever.

I recalled the day when the founders Dave Hitz and James Lau, together with Dan Warmenhoven, the CEO and Tom Mendoza, the second-in-command announced that NetApp was going to be a USD 3 billion dollar company in 3 years. At the time, NetApp just passed the USD 1 billion mark. Many felt the goal was just too lofty because growing the company from USD 1 billion to USD 3 billion meant running at a phenomenal pace. Not only did NetApp went past that number in 3 years, they are now heading for the USD 5 billion mark.

My kudos to the NetApp culture because this is one of the best place to work in. You don't see the Executive Management going down on their knees and thanking the technical people at the Annual Sales Kickoff. In NetApp, they did just that.

NetApp has grown from the little engine to a big engine and it still could. Bravo!