Data ONTAP by Network Appliance :

NetApp's proprietary OS is called Data ONTAP. Due to licensing deals with Microsoft, however, NetApp is compatible with Windows-based NAS appliances. This allows you to utilize a non-Windows device that interoperates with Windows. Another big plus of Data ONTAP is that it was created specifically for NAS applications and offers the greatest range of high-end features such as advanced mirroring and snapshots. You can use Data ONTAP, for example, for hundreds of data snapshots and point-in-time copies every hour if you require it.

NetApp has established a common architecture across all products based on Data ONTAP and its WAFL (write anywhere file layout) file system. These two elements underlie all its platforms and are a big reason that NetApp dominates in the primary storage part of the NAS landscape. And that's the whole point — NAS was designed to simplify storage management compared to traditional SANs.

"With NAS, the FC part is disguised so a lot less is required of the storage administrator," said Karthik Kannan, director of technology and strategy at NetApp.

But complexity is a relative concept. Compared to some Snap and Windows gear some NetApp filers are quite complex. But as new versions of the OS are released, greater simplification is apparent. The newest edition, Data ONTAP 7G (Grid), adds dynamic virtualization and removes some of the administration from disk configuration at the physical level. This means more time managing data as opposed to managing systems and disks.

"Administrators no longer have to worry about how many disks are attached to a volume and program for backups, and so on," said Kannan.

Version 7G is just the start of NetApp's grid vision. Its acquisition of Spinnaker Networks last year was part of the plan to move into enterprise grid computing. That vision will come into being over the next 12 to 24 months.