NetApp Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : So Jeff, thank you for coming, and maybe we'll start out with some on the higher-level side here. Maybe if you could just talk about kind of strategic priorities for your business as you head into 2025, what are the two or three key focus areas for NetApp?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Maybe we'll just pivot to AI to start. I think you guys have mentioned 100 AI and data lake modernization wins. Can you talk a little bit more about a little more detail on who is -- what type of customers, what type of applications -- any insight you can give us on the early success in AI? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 11, 2024 / 4:00PM, NTAP.OQ - NetApp Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. What has NetApp had to do from a product portfolio or marketing or go-to-market standpoint to better adjust GenAI.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Yes. So what are the changes that will be evolving as AI gets deeper? Is it software changes to ONTAP? Is there new product hardware capabilities that NetApp needs, what needs to change to keep pace with the overall AI market? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 11, 2024 / 4:00PM, NTAP.OQ - NetApp Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Great. That's helpful. Maybe we'll touch on Public Cloud a little bit now. Last quarter was very strong. I think the guidance calls for double-digit growth in the second half. This is a business that a few years ago had some up and downs and now it's been consistently strong. So maybe just talk about kind of what's driving the success this time around. I know there's been some rejiggering of offerings, but maybe if you could just give us a sense as to what's driving the strength in Public Cloud overall?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Great. Maybe talk a little bit about the offerings that you have and how you think they're differentiated and is there risk that over time, some of the other storage vendors may try to replicate what NetApp has done? How hard is that to do? You obviously have a pretty good incumbency advantage here?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Great. Great. Maybe if you can go into a little detail about -- I would guess the main competitor is actually the native storage offered by the cloud themselves. So maybe just walk us through kind of how customers look at that ROI or business case to use NetApp ONTAP instead of the native storage that's offered by the marketplaces?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Right, right. Yes, it's helpful to have that added go-to-market with those three large players, maybe just this part out. If you could just talk about net adds to go-to-market. And you talked about having specialists in AI. How are you tackling the public cloud business, different offerings with

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Yes. Maybe one more on this, I lied. Talk a little bit about having the strength on-prem and what that means to the cloud offering? And are you seeing a fair amount where ONTAP is on both sides? Or are you seeing a little bit more just cloud type deployments? How is that tracking?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Great. Maybe let's get back to kind of some of the core product areas. All flash business has been really strong. I know the QLC NAND products have been great. But if you can just talk about kind of what's driving traction in NetApp's business in all-flash and then we can get into more specifics.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Yes, it does seem like there's more focus from some of your peer competitors in this area. So maybe touch on -- I'm sure ONTAP is going to have something to do with it. But what will keep NetApp's C Series differentiated and winning versus peers as they try to get more aggressive in this area.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. And you mentioned kind of filling that gap between disk hybrid and higher-end flash. What kind of applications and use cases are you seeing in that bucket? And is there just a very large -- are we very early innings of addressing that with the rest of the storage market?

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Right. Okay. I wanted to touch on Keystone a little bit. There's always a lot of talk for companies like NetApp and others in the enterprise world about more of an as-a-service type offering. Keystone is still small, but it's been doing very well. Maybe talk a little bit about how customers view that? And what's kind of driving the recent traction in Keystone.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Right. Zero attrition is good. Maybe you should be charging a little more or something.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : All right. And then maybe last one on Keystone. Talk about kind of new logos? Or you did mention a fair amount. It sounds like there's some that are starting in the public cloud and using Keystone on-prem, but how is this working as a tool for the broader NetApp.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. Great. And then I did want to get back to ONTAP. We've touched on it throughout some of these answers here. But give us a sense of the power of ONTAP and what that means. I mean it obviously gives you a very strong ability to keep existing customers. But talk about the differentiation and how that is a tool for NetApp to continue to outperform the storage space.

Question: Tim Long - Barclays - Analyst : Right. Great. I think we're coming up on time here, but I appreciate the time. Lots going on with Keystone and AI, cloud. A lot of good things going on for NetApp. So I appreciate the time.