“They're nervous”: NetApp executives discuss the impact of the memory shortage on their partners

NetApp ANZ managing director and director of partners comment on the current state of the industry.

As the global memory shortage continues with no end in sight, vendors are changing prices and strategies to keep up with demand from partners.

NetApp, like every company, has also been impacted by the memory shortage with the company changing its prices to be aligned with the current global market.

Speaking to CRN, Mark Fioretto, AVP and managing director, NetApp ANZ, and Stephen Persoglia, director of partners and alliances at NetApp break down how the memory shortage is impacting the data infrastructure company.

Fioretto called it a “global situation”.

“Over the 30 years of NetApp being in business, we've developed various technology types, and many of those technology types are still part of the portfolio today,” he said.

"At the moment, we are in a favourable position, given the significance of the change in price and supply chain to work with partners and customers to help them make the best of the situation, given the constraints and the change in the economic value proposition in the marketplace.”

Speaking to their partners, Persoglia said “they’re nervous” about the current situation.

“They want to know how we can support them and support so that they can support their customers,” he said.

“We allow our partners to almost help their customers play Tetris with their storage, try and fit as much as they possibly can in without having to place additional orders, which can only be done using the tools that we provide.”

Persoglia noted their partners are coming to NetApp for alternatives to SSD such as FAS or HDD.

“There's other things that we can support them with, whether it is Keystone, which is predictable pricing as a service can pay for what you consume,” he said.

“We've got first party services in the cloud. We've got finance NetApp capital solutions that can support them if the customer's budget just is not going to move. They're coming to us for help and what is it we can offer to help navigate this situation.”

Persoglia explained that their partners are “rewarded” for being a NetApp partner through this period.

“We have those alternatives, the price of HDD, which can cater and support most of the world's applications. Is definitely a good option through this period, to get our customers supported without having to pay the inflated price of SSD,” he said.

Persoglia explained, “We love our partner ecosystem”.

“We're here to support you throughout the year and certainly to help you throughout this process, where we do have supply shortages with NAND and DRAM.

“There are alternatives, and we will keep your business thriving as a result of your choice to partner with NetApp over some of our competitors.”