Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) sells hardware and computer software and services used to store and manage large amounts of data. Its customers range from small and medium businesses to Fortune 10 companies. Network Appliance's flagship product is a piece of hardware that can store hundreds of terabytes of data (1 terabyte = 1000 gigabytes). The company's hardware is technologically more advanced than traditional storage devices (such as local hard drives) because it automatically optimizes storage space with its internal operating system and uses networks to connect to a company's computers that are far away. Corporations and government agencies are demanding large data storage capacities because of an explosion of electronic information from scientific and population growth. In addition to high storage capacities, these institutions also demand products that keep their data safe, especially in a world where more and more confidential information is transferred through computer networks. NetApp sells software packages, such as data reduction services and disk-to-disk backup software, along with its core hardware product, to address this demand.

Furthermore, to help NTAP meet all of its customers' needs, it has partnerships with many industry leaders such as Cisco Systems (CSCO), International Business Machines (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT), Symantec (SYMC), among others.^[1]

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