A global software company I have been working with here in the UK, wants to test new versions of its software running with many different languages; so they have to create lots of copies of the same software, but the only part that’s different is the words that get displayed on the screen. Traditionally they’ve created lots of full copies of each software release, changed the language for each copy and run their tests. Lots of languages mean lots of storage and lots of time to create copies. Then they discovered NetApp. They bought some storage from us and our FlexClone software and discovered that they could create many copies of their software instantly and the only additional capacity they needed was the space to store the on screen messages et cetera in different languages. They saved many TB of space and reduced their testing time by six months. We had a competitor for this business who offered their storage for free – but free doesn’t save you six months.
There was a time when NetApp sold storage to customers who simply wanted to store data. Life was straightforward back then. Customers just viewed storage as a necessary evil – their businesses needed data to operate and they had to buy some kind of technology to store it on. But things have changed over the last few years. Our solutions no longer just store and protect your data. Today, the point of storage is to increase business agility and provide competitive differentiation. It has become a strategic investment in the future of your company. Talk to NetApp today, and start thinking about how storage can help to drive your business forward.
For another great customer example, check out the Suncorp story. NetApp helped Suncorp migrate 80% of its entire IT environment - thousands of disparate storage systems - onto a single shared infrastructure, creating a large, virtualised private cloud. Seven data centers were consolidated into two, and 300 servers began doing the work that previously required 4,000. Suncorp was able to decrease total IT costs by 30% - which, as their CEO Jeff Smith points out, “gave us money to go start more development projects.” Read the full story here.
