Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced support of Microsoft Windows® iSCSI Initiator 2.0. Support of the initiator demonstrates the rapid integration of NetApp® storage solutions with the latest Microsoft Windows storage technologies. NetApp is among the first to support Microsoft’s latest version of its iSCSI initiator, which underscores a continued vision by both companies to embrace the iSCSI protocol for the benefit of enterprise customers.

“The powerful features of the latest Microsoft iSCSI initiator combined with the advanced data management capabilities of NetApp unified storage systems make IP SAN a compelling offering for enterprise-class deployments,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president, Products and Partners at Network Appliance. “Customers will now be able to better leverage their Windows storage investments for increased simplicity, performance, and scalability of Windows server solutions, including Exchange Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint Services.”

“Customers want a choice when building high-quality, highly available network storage systems,” said Rahul Auradkar, director in the Windows Server division at Microsoft. “NetApp support of Windows iSCSI Initiator version 2.0 includes several advancements, including integrated Microsoft Multipath Input/Output (MPIO) and support for x64. These advancements will help enterprise customers take advantage of their existing Windows investments to improve the IT value and operational efficiency of their networked storage systems.”

Using Windows iSCSI Initiator version 2.0, customers can easily deploy an IP SAN that takes advantage of the latest features of both Microsoft iSCSI Initiator and NetApp iSCSI storage solutions, including enhanced connectivity, increased availability, and advanced error correction and recovery capabilities.

Customers will see several advancements with the second version of the initiator currently available, most notably integration with Microsoft MPIO, support for all error recovery levels, and support for Windows Server x64 editions. These approaches offer customers enhanced path failover and a load-balancing solution using the Windows server platform. Support by NetApp for Windows iSCSI Initiator version 2.0 for NetApp storage systems offers peace of mind to customers that the combined solution has undergone rigorous testing to enable robust and effective Microsoft SAN deployments.

For more information on NetApp iSCSI solutions. visit www.netapp.com/solutions/iscsi-technology.html .