NetApp closes down a replication product line

Haifa development centre jobs under threat

NetApp is closing down its Snap Mirror for Open Systems product, which came as the main part of its $160 million Topio acquisition.

Topio was bought in November, 2006, and its main product was an any-source-to-any-destination replication product called the Topio Data Protection Suite.

It could replicate data between heterogeneous SANs for data protection and disaster recovery, and complemented NetApp's own Netapp-to-NetApp SnapMirror replication technology. One initial suggested use was replicating data from non-NetApp SANs to NetApp products such as its virtual tape library.

In April, 2007, NetApp renamed the product ReplicatorX and subsequently to Snap Mirror for Open Systems (SMOS). The development of the product was carried out at the ex-Topio development centre in Haifa, Israel, where 51 people are currently employed. It will be closed as of January 15, 2009. The fate of the employees has yet to be decided.

NetApp said in a statement that customers for disaster recovery replication products are looking for homogeneous rather than multi-vendor products, as they want like-to-like replication and not any-to-any.

NetApp will continue selling and developing SnapMirror, and will provide 3 years of maintenance and technical support for SMOS customers.

Asked if the acquisition of Topio has been fruitless, NetApp's corporate relations VP, Eric Brown, said: "All of our acquisitions yield breakthroughs for customers and enrich our IP portfolio. That makes them quite fruitful indeed." ®