- Brian Pawlowski, a NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) SVP and 20-year company vet who was in charge of the company's recently-launched FlashRay all-flash storage systems, has left for fast-growing upstart Pure Storage (raised funding last year at a $3B valuation). In the wake of Pawlowski's departure, NetApp has put FlashRay under the purview of the team responsible for its mainstay FAS systems - it's headed by SVP Dave Mason.
- NetApp first announced its plans to launch FlashRay, which relies on a different OS (Mars) than its tried-and-true Data ONTAP OS, to much fanfare in 2013. After delays, the first FlashRay systems were released last September - NetApp highlighted its use of (cheaper) consumer-grade flash and Mars features that minimized latency and I/O activity. However, it also lacked storage snapshot support and high-availability features - in November, Pawlowski promised those features, along with support for automatic storage tiering, would arrive in a pending software update.
- When asked on the FQ3 CC (transcript) if FlashRay's use of a single storage controller is limiting its adoption, CEO Tom Georgens argued FlashRay is only one part of a flash storage push that also includes all-flash FAS systems and NetApp's EF-Series flash arrays (aimed at high-performance database workloads). "The key component for us ultimately is not any of the individual products or any of the individual categories. Its about total flash under management which was up huge year-over-year."
- Aside from Pure Storage, NetApp's flash hardware faces competition from EMC (XtremIO/DSSD), IBM, HP (3PAR), Violin Memory, and a slew of other firms. IDC estimates the company's total enterprise storage share fell to 7.2% in Q4 from 8% a year earlier.