BELGRADE, Serbia, Jun 23, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) announced that NetApp(R) solutions provided
the storage backbone for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, hosted
by Radio Television of Serbia (RTS). The annual international
competition is one of the world's most prestigious popular music
events, with an audience of over 250 million people, including the 43
participating countries as well as Australia and New Zealand. The
broadcaster also provided over 3,500 accredited journalists at the
event with the capability to report and broadcast in real time using
VMware(R) Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). NetApp hardware and
software gave RTS the necessary stability and reliability for VMware
VDI while maintaining the high performance levels necessary in a
broadcasting scenario.

"Hosting the Eurovision Song Contest was a great honor but also a
massive logistical challenge," said Srboljub Nikitovic, executive
director at RTS. "Millions viewed our images, and thousands of
journalists relied on our virtual infrastructure for their reporting.
For the IT infrastructure, this meant 100% reliability, and NetApp was
the best choice to meet all our needs in terms of stability, disaster
recovery, VDI support, cost-effectiveness, and scalability."

RTS used two FAS2020 storage systems set up as a cluster for
reliability and disaster recovery purposes. The Eurovision Song
Contest press room used VDI for Internet access, allowing journalists
to write their articles, use audio and video content provided by RTS,
and produce their reports. Data, such as text files, Web content, and
audio/video files that were generated and used via the VDI, were then
stored and backed up on the NetApp systems for fast and reliable
access. Primary data was stored on a NetApp system located in the main
data center and, using NetApp SnapMirror(R) software, was then
mirrored to the second system for disaster recovery.

In addition to high-performance storage and backup capability, RTS
particularly valued the ability of NetApp FlexClone(R) to replicate
physical volumes as virtual copies, making them flexibly available and
without requiring additional storage space. Thanks to the flexible
provisioning of the storage resources, journalists using particularly
large amounts of data, such as audio and video, received the capacity
they needed to complete their projects on time. To streamline
resources and use storage the most efficiently, RTS also used NetApp
deduplication technology to eliminate unnecessary copies and reduce
the overall amount of data.

Now that the contest is over, the whole IT server infrastructure
is being migrated to a virtualized NetApp and VMware environment with
200 desktops initially and growing to over 1,000 in the next 12
months. NetApp will help RTS store and manage not only ordinary file
data such as television schedules, but also, more importantly, vital
radio and television content. NetApp partner COMING Computer
Engineering, Belgrade, who designed the solution and implemented the
system, is also in charge of further development, maintenance, and
support for the entire project. For more information, visit
www.coming.rs.

"In broadcasting, we need to store many large files in a variety
of different formats and make sure they are readily available for
production purposes. We saw a great opportunity to use NetApp
technology to replace expansive dedicated video production equipment
and also provide a complete storage solution," said Nikitovic. "Having
proved itself in the run-up to the Eurovision contest, we are
confident that NetApp is the right choice to protect our vital content
on a day-to-day basis."

"NetApp is honored to be a part of this great event that brings
together the music community of Europe and shares it with the world,"
said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing at NetApp.
"We are proud to provide the infrastructure that RTS used to store,
secure, and share real-time data with journalists from around the
world."

For more information about the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, visit
www.eurovision.tv.

About NetApp

NetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions
that accelerate business breakthroughs and deliver outstanding cost
efficiency. Discover NetApp's passion for helping companies around the
world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.

NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, FlexClone, and
SnapMirror are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in
the United States and/or other countries. All other brands or products
are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders
and should be treated as such.

SOURCE: NetApp

NetApp
Nathan Phillips, 408-822-7284
nathan.phillips@netapp.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008