IDC has announced that Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) leads the worldwide secure content and application delivery market for the fourth consecutive time (Secure Content and Application Delivery 2005-2009 Forecast and Analysis, IDC# 33455). In 2004, NetApp® captured 32.1% of the revenue market share and maintained a leadership position with its NetCache customer offerings, which include solutions for Internet access and security, streaming media, and business application acceleration. Overall, the secure content and application delivery market grew by 15% from 2003 to 2004.

“The NetApp leadership position is the result of a diversified customer base that includes large enterprises and service providers,” said Lucinda Borovick, program director, IDC. “Looking ahead, IDC expects NetApp to expand into product solutions that more directly leverage and enhance its leadership position in storage.”

NetApp leadership within the market can also be attributed to its strengthened NetCache product and solutions portfolio. NetCache 6.0 software, which was introduced last fall, offers the industry’s most comprehensive content security solution. Specifically, the NetCache Internet access and security solution offers customers granular access controls, URL filtering, antivirus and spyware protection, bandwidth management, and other services to minimize the management complexity and increase the security of Internet access. NetCache also provides customers with solutions to address the challenges of the distributed enterprise. Customers can leverage their NetCache investment to accelerate remote employee access to business applications and to deliver streaming media to employees in remote offices.

“Use of the Internet and intranets has become the de facto standard for fast, secure delivery of information for enterprises today, and the NetCache product line repeatedly demonstrates its value by providing key benefits to customers such as security, accelerated access to business-critical information, cost savings, and reliability,” said Dave Kresse, general manager of the Content Delivery business unit at Network Appliance. “Last year, we focused heavily on broadening our customer reach and enhancing our solutions portfolio. As we look to further extend our market-leading position in the year ahead, we will leverage our caching and storage experience to address the evolving needs of our customers with more robust security and content delivery solutions.”