Dan Warmenhoven doesn't get much press, but he has quietly built the only $1 billion-plus new corporate hardware company in the past decade. Founded in 1992, Network Appliance pioneered networked-storage products that help corporations efficiently use pools of storage capacity. Rather than keep data sequestered on drives installed inside servers, it offered an approach called network-attached storage (NAS) that keeps the information on machines called filers that any server can tap in to.
Building from its NAS roots, NetApp posted 37% sales growth in the fiscal year ended Apr. 30, to $1.6 billion, while net income grew 48%, to $225 million. Storage giant EMC now has Network Appliance in its cross-hairs, but Warmenhoven believes his company can continue posting 30%-plus revenue growth. If he's right, the upstart will continue to be a favorite with investors, who have pushed the company's market cap to more than $10 billion.
All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.
* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.
Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek
Network Appliance Inc. provides enterprise network storage and data management solutions. The company’s network storage solutions and service offerings provide enterprises with storage, data center operations, business continuance, and remote data access. Its NetCache Web delivery and security appliances support various applications, including proxy, Web caching, content filtering, virus scanning, Web application management, streaming media delivery, content distribution, and usage analysis applications. Network Appliance technology provides the ability to deploy all of these solutions on a single appliance. The company sells appliance- and server-based software that manages storage administration and data availability. It also offers a set of software products that provide a functionality to solve various business problems. In addition, Network Appliance provides enterprise-wide support and consulting solutions. The company markets and distributes its products in approximately 100 countries through a direct sales force, value-added resellers, system integrators, original equipment manufacturers, and distributors. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.
No. of Employees
2,844
Data provided by
Daniel J. Warmenhoven
Bio
Daniel J. Warmenhoven has been Chief Executive Officer of Network Appliance Inc., a network data storage company, since October 1994. Mr. Warmenhoven served as the President of Network Appliance Inc. from October 1994 to May 2000. Prior to joining Network Appliance Inc., Mr. Warmenhoven served in various capacities, including President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Network Equipment Technologies Inc., a telecommunications company, from November 1989 to January 1994. He has held senior positions with both Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. Mr. Warmenhoven served as a Chairman of the Board since May 7, 2003 and Director of Redback Networks Inc. since April 1999. Mr. Warmenhoven has been a Director of Network Appliance Inc. since October 1994. He also serves on the Board of Directors of two private companies. Mr. Warmenhoven holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University.
