IBM collaborates with Network Appliance Inc.

IBM collaborates with Network Appliance Inc.

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) has collaborated with Network Appliance Inc. to a deal, which would result in IBM reselling a range of products from the Network Appliance’s portfolio. Critics say that this deal is targeted towards capturing the market share from the leader in the segment EMC Corp. and their allies. NetApp on their part have agreed to use IBM’s Tivoli software for handling storage management on their products.

They would also now be preferring IBM tape storage systems for their client’s requirements. However, both the companies have not released any information about the financial details of this latest deal. This resulted in a boost in the share prices of the Network Appliance Inc. as the shares touched $28.45 (up 4.6%).

The deal is beneficial for both the companies. IBM lacks options in their storage portfolios while Network Appliance gets the support of a tech giant for their products. IBM is also reportedly planning to move out of its network-attached storage products division and move to NetApp offerings instead. This deal enables IBM to sell the entire range of NetApp products under their own brand.

Barry Rudolph, IBM’s vice president of storage systems spoke to the media about this deal: “Ultimately, what we have to do is take the best technologies, integrate them, and give our customers solutions that are simpler for them to use. They want to be able to install and manage their storage in different areas and know that everything is going to work together.”