Pelz-Sharpe Alan Pelz-Sharpe

NetApp dips toe in ECM waters

31-Dec-2006

Tags: Document Management (ECM), Marketplace at Large, Selecting Technology,

When EMC acquired Documentum there was much speculation that main rival NetApp would gobble up FileNet. Instead, NetApp acquired by accident a new channel - as other ECM vendors suddenly wanted to keep a distance between EMC|Documentum, and though NetApp didn't acquire FileNet they began a fairly intense relationship. But now that FileNet has fallen to IBM (another leading storage vendor) the affair is over. Judging from this recent announcement there will be no chance of a reconciliation, as NetApp has launched three new products: IS1200-FRM (File Reporting and Migration), IS1200-SA (Search Appliance), and IS1200-ECS (Enterprise Content Services) -- all built on top of its Information Server platform. Together these would seem at first blush to represent an ECM alternative, particularly to those customers focused on large data archive and retrieval problems. I have not had a chance to look at the products properly, but I suspect that, combined with NetApp's deepening relationship with Oracle, this could mark an interesting start to 2007 for ECM watchers.

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