NETWORK APPLIANCE MELDT RESULTATEN DERDE KWARTAAL BOEKJAAR 2003

De opname van de conference call over de cijfers van het derde kwartaal is beschikbaar via telefoonnummer +1 706 645 9291 en toegangscode 7829249, of via http://investors.netapp.com.

Highlights van het derde kwartaal:

• Europa heeft ongeveer 32% bijgedragen aan de omzet over dit kwartaal
  met name door sterke resultaten in de regio´s  Northern en Western Europe
• In december 2002 werd een samenwerking aangekondigd tussen Network
  Appliance en Hitachi Data Systems
• Met Microsoft werd een license agreement getekend waardoor Network
  Appliance gebruik kan maken van de uitgebreide set van Windows communication protocols

###

Perscontact:
Bianca van Dulst
MarCom Manager Western Europe
Network Appliance
Telefoon: 023-567 96 89
http://www.netapp.com
mailto:bvdulst@netapp.com

Bastiaan van Amstel
Edelman
P.O. Box 2021
2130 GE Hoofddorp
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 23 554 20 30
Fax: +31 23 562 83 86
mailto:bastiaan.vanamstel@edelman.com
http://www.edelman.com/nl

###

NETWORK APPLIANCE ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR THIRD QUARTER FISCAL YEAR 2003

Fifth Consecutive Quarter of Growth

SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- February 11, 2003-- Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:
NTAP) today announced results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2003. Revenues for the third quarter were $228.5 million, an increase of 15% compared to revenues of $198.3 million for the same period a year ago, and a 6% increase compared to $215.2 million in the prior quarter. For the third quarter, GAAP net income increased 182% to $19.7 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to $7.0 million, or $0.02 per share for the same period in the prior year.  Pro forma net income for the third quarter increased 47% to $22.7 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to $15.5 million, or $0.04 per share for the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first nine months of the current fiscal year totaled $650.5 million, compared to revenues of $593.5 million for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year. 
For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, GAAP net income was $51.6 million, or $0.15 per share, compared with net loss of $4.7 million, or $0.01 loss per share for the same period in the prior year.  Pro forma net income for the first nine months of the current fiscal year totaled $58.3 million, or $0.17 per share, compared to pro forma net income of $27.8 million, or $0.08 per share for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year. 

"Our accelerating growth rate demonstrates the success we've achieved in expanding our customer base, strengthening our partnerships and the strong market reception of our industry- leading unified storage and NearStore(tm) families," said Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of Network Appliance. "Network Appliance continues to lead the industry in delivering an unmatched combination of simplicity, innovation, and lower total cost of ownership."

Quarterly Highlights
During the third quarter, Network Appliance expanded its unified storage strategy through partnerships with key industry leaders such as Hitachi Data Systems.  The Hitachi Data Systems partnership makes it easier for enterprise customers to deploy storage pools that can be shared across SAN and NAS applications for better storage asset management and investment protection, and offers Network Appliance access to additional segments of the storage market.  

The company also signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft that grants Network Appliance access to a broad set of Windows® communication protocols. This enables Network Appliance to deliver leading-edge network storage and data management solutions to its customers for their Windows data storage and information access needs. 
Customers from a variety of verticals selected Network Appliance to provide the highest levels of performance, reliability, and availability in storing, managing and consolidating their business- and mission-critical data. Unified storage wins for the third quarter include The United States Navy, North Texas Tollway Authority, China Unicom, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and WesternGeco.  Other key enterprise customer wins are ATAC, Group Peugeot Citroen, Inmarsat, INTEGRIS Health, John Deere, MFS Investment Management, Renault F1 Team, Wells Fargo, Inc., and Weta Digital Effects. Network Appliance also continued to lead the emerging nearline storage market with NearStore customer wins including TRW, Whitehead Institute, Norsk Hydro, and a major defense agency. In addition, the company received several awards this quarter for its innovative employee practices, product strategies, and solutions. Highlights of these awards include:

• "100 Best Companies to Work For" list by FORTUNE Magazine
• "Best Products of 2002" award by Storage Magazine for the FAS900
  unified storage platform
• "Companies to Watch" in 2003 list by Intelligent Enterprise

Pro forma results exclude amortization of goodwill and intangible assets, stock compensation, restructuring charges, impairment loss on investments, gain on sale of intangible assets, and the related effects on income taxes. Earnings per share represents the diluted number of shares for all periods presented. The conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet from the investors section of Network Appliance's Web site at http://investors.netapp.com on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time.  The conference call will also be available live in a listen-only format at (877) 278-8649 in the United States, and (706) 643-1699 outside the United States.  A replay will be available for 72 hours following completion of the live call by dialing (800) 642-1687 in the United States, and (706) 645-9291 outside the United States, replay code 7829249.

About Network Appliance
Network Appliance is a world leader in unified storage solutions for today's data-intensive enterprise. Since its inception in 1992, Network Appliance has delivered technology, product, and partner firsts that continue to drive the evolution of storage.  Information about Network Appliance* solutions and services is available at www.netapp.com.

###

NetApp is a registered trademark.  Network Appliance and NearStore are trademarks of Network Appliance, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 The statements regarding growth and acceptance trends toward the network storage solutions are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include any statement regarding future events or the future financial performance of Network Appliance Inc. that involves risks or uncertainties. In evaluating these statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated, including without limitation: continuing decline in the general economic conditions, customer demand for products and services, customer acceptance of product architectures, increased competition, inherent risk in the international operations, and other important factors as described in Network Appliance, Inc. reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its mostly recently submitted 10-K and 10-Q.