IBM is planning to stop selling storage products from NetApp, in a bid to encourage customers to use its own products.
According to an internal memo cited by Bloomberg, the company will stop selling NetApp’s new N series systems from 27th May and stop development of these products.
Following the cessation of the sale, the company will encourage its customers to opt for IBM-made products.
In 2005, IBM had signed a deal with NetApp under which IBM offered NetApp FAS series products as the IBM N series and also offers most of the NetApp software portfolio.
The companies then claimed that the combination of IBM’s windows and server technologies with NetApp’s storage solutions will offer better value who is seeking storage efficiency and virtualisation solutions in their data centres.
The termination of the deal could impact NetApp as the company gets 2% of its revenue from IBM, according to Bloomberg.
Originally the deal was struck to better compete against EMC in storage products, while IBM now seeking to boost its flagging hardware sale.
