Network Appliance Picks Up NAS Patents

Network Appliance (NetApp) announced that it has acquired all of Auspex Systems' patents. The patents cover many Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems technologies, including a patent for a parallel I/O network file server architecture. Auspex filed for bankruptcy in April 2003. NetApp won the patents in a bankruptcy court auction for $8,975,000.

"Increasing our patent portfolio gives us an even stronger technology base to build next-generation NAS, SAN, and Fabric Attached Storage (FAS) systems for the benefit of our enterprise customers," said Dan Warmenhoven, NetApp CEO. Other Auspex patents include patents for fault-tolerant network file system server systems, bridging for direct data storage device access, processing systems with dynamically allocatable buffer memory, and intelligent virtual volume access.

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