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Technology Stocks : Network Appliance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MileHigh who wrote (841)	4/11/1999 9:48:00 PM
From: DownSouth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10934

Also, you have to wonder whether NTAP is committed to the cache business, and if not, then is the cache business a "hidden asset" (assuming they wanted to sell it to focus on the storage side of the business). If they did sell it, it might be worth a lot, I have no doubt that NTAP is commited to the cache product. They continue to make improvements. They bought the caching company in 1997, lock stock and barrel. They are making lots of money on it in Europe, where the ROI is greater than US (all local calls are toll calls there).

To: MileHigh who wrote (841)	4/12/1999 11:43:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Respond to of 10934

>you have to wonder whether NTAP is committed to the cache business ... i think they're pretty committed today. <vbg> ----- Network Appliance says in Microsoft pact Reuters Story - April 12, 1999 09:25 SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 12 (Reuters) - Network Appliance Inc. said Monday it reached an Internet media technology partnership agreement with Microsoft Corp. Network Appliance said under the pact, it will enter joint marketing initiatives and develop new products based on its splitting and caching technology used to direct streaming media over networks and the Internet. The technology is used to cut down on network congestion and speed up access to multimedia data such as audio and video presentations. Network Appliance said it expects to deliver products based on the agreement during the second half of 1999. Shares of Network Appliance rose 13/16 to 59-7/16 in early trading, bucking a downward market in technology stocks.

To: MileHigh who wrote (841)	4/12/1999 11:47:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

here's the full release. ----- Network Appliance to Deliver Splitting and Caching Solutions for Microsoft Windows Media Technologies SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 1999-- ISPs, content providers, enterprises and browsers to benefit from streaming capabilities in high performance NetCache appliances; reducing bandwidth requirements and improving response times. Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) to deliver splitting and caching solutions for streaming media on Intranets within corporations, as well as across the Internet. These solutions will eliminate redundant streaming media traffic from the network, greatly reducing network congestion as live media streams are split, and stored media streams are cached and served by NetCache(TM) appliances. In addition, as stored media streams are cached closer to Web end-users, users will have faster access to the multimedia data streams. Microsoft and Network Appliance have agreed to cooperate on joint marketing and technology initiatives to develop and deploy their solutions in the Internet/Intranet marketplace. Network Appliance expects to deliver products based on this agreement during the second half of 1999. As the leading provider of dedicated data-access appliances, NetApp's NetCache products are the industry's foremost caching solutions for Web traffic, offering both appliance and software caching solutions to improve access times, reduce bandwidth requirements and accelerate Web sites. "We are excited to be working with NetApp to enable them to deliver caching solutions for Windows(R) Media Technologies," said Greg Carpenter, group program manager for Windows Media Technologies at Microsoft Corp. "Windows Media Technologies is gaining rapid momentum in the media streaming space and NetApp(R) caching solutions are a key enabler for greatly improving the end user experience with faster Web site performance and faster access to digital media streams." Network Appliance is integrating Microsoft Windows Media functionality into its NetCache appliances, bringing the benefits of caching to streaming media traffic. ISPs that deploy these solutions will be able to seamlessly deliver popular live events, such as the Space Shuttle launch, over the web without substantially degrading network performance. Enterprises also benefit from caching media streams. For example, corporations will be able to broadcast events, such as CEO presentations, throughout the company for employees to watch from their desktops at their convenience, without implementing major infrastructure upgrades. "Caching will play a fundamental role in the growth of streaming media on the Internet by moving the content closer to the user, and thereby making a very significant difference in the quality of service available, not to mention a very significant decrease in the cost of the bandwidth needed for the service," said Peter Christy, Principal at Collaborative Research of Los Altos, CA. "NetApp and Microsoft's announced solution will address critical needs for enterprises, ISPs and web hosting providers as their use of streaming media increases, by providing caching and splitting of media streams through NetApp's high-performance NetCache servers." "The Microsoft and NetApp collaboration addresses the need for high performance, deployable caching solutions that can handle streaming media," said Amit Pandey, director of NetCache. "As streaming media content grows on the Internet and Intranets, it is vital that our customers scale their infrastructure quickly, reliably and cost effectively. NetApp delivers these requirements."