NetApp CEO: We're Taking Share From EMC

NetApp CEO and Director George Kurian remains confident that his company provides the best storage solution in the era of hybrid IT, despite tough competition from VMware and the new behemoth Dell-EMC.

"What customers really want is to bridge the world of enterprise IT with the world of cloud IT. We started that journey four years ago, well before these transactions were created, building a solution set called Data Fabric," Kurian told Channel Company CEO Bob Faletra during the IT Best of Breed Conference in Atlanta.

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"I think VMware's solution being deployed on Amazon is essentially an endorsement of our view, albeit four years after we started it," he added.

When asked whether Dell-EMC's extended reach in the industry would hurt NetApp's business, Kurian took the stance that bigger isn't always better.

"Very simply, we’re taking share from EMC today. We're the fastest growing SAN vendor in the market. We're the fastest growing all-flash array vendor in the market. And despite their reach, we have better solutions," he said.

"I wish Michael well. The history of large, complex integrations and mergers is not good. At a time when the industry changes very quickly, you tend to focus internally instead of externally," Kurian added.