Nickname: factcheck

Review: Hi Peter: Your recent article and blog about NetApp was very enlightening. However, Mr. Warmenhoven, and Dave Hitz the founder of NetApp, don't seem to be singing from the same sheet. Can you clarify for your readers the glaring inconsitancines in these statements? From Dave Hitz' Blog: A "customized commodity" is a contradiction in terms. And from Dan Warmenhoven in your blog: "There is nothing `commodity' about the system, only the components that comprise it."

Date reviewed: Jan 20, 2006 9:47 PM

Nickname: Peter Burrows

Review: Hi, this is the author of this article. In following up on a reader question about Warmenhoven's definition of state-of-the-art, I contacted Warmenhoven. He says that for starters, NetApp does none of its own ASICs or custom chips. Also, it sources its disc shelves from Xyratex, the motherboards for some of its models are co-designed by NEC, and it uses I/O cards from vendors such as Q-Logic. I'll post his full e-mail response on the TechBeat blog. http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/index.html Regards -- Peter

Date reviewed: Dec 31, 2005 11:20 PM

Nickname: factcheck

Review: What does NetApp consider as a commodity part in this portion of your article "despite building its gear with commodity, off-the-shelf parts." NetApp's DS14 MK2 shelf is a proprietary shelf. Its ESH modules, motherboards, NVRAM cards, and power supplies are all proprietary. The Intel processor is a commodity part as are the Seagate drives and so are many of the electronic component parts on the boards. But this is the same as EMC. But I don't think you can consider NetApp a commodity white box solution. Perhaps you can get some clarification from NetApp on what they consider a commodity solution.

Date reviewed: Dec 30, 2005 1:58 PM

Nickname: bbve

Review: Tell me about stock dividends. Thank you, bbve.

Date reviewed: Dec 24, 2005 5:11 PM