The NetApp NearStore Virtual Tape Library (VTL) has received a Golden Software award in the Storage category from China's Software World, announced Network Appliance, Inc., a leader in advanced network storage solutions, on February 7, 2007. The award recognizes the most innovative products and solutions of the year of 2006 in various categories.

Software World, launched by the China Software Industry Association, is a leading publication in China covering networking, Internet and e-commerce, and software development. Each year, the Golden Software award winners are selected based on an extensive survey conducted among technology users, subscribers, and a panel of industry experts.

"Network Appliance is pleased to accept the Golden Software award for the NetApp NearStore VTL from China’s Software World," said George Or, regional director of Greater China at Network Appliance. "This award validates the customers who have chosen the NetApp NearStore VTL to maximize their data protection and the trend we are seeing worldwide that disk-based backup is now widely accepted as an alternative to tape for backup and restore performance."

The NearStore VTL is a compelling disk-to-disk backup solution for all open systems enterprise primary storage, including EMC, Hitachi, and IBM storage environments and is ideal for customers who want greater performance and simpler data management from their existing tape environments—and to maximize a return on investment (ROI) from their existing investments in a backup application and tape infrastructure - NetApp.

Recognized as an alternative to physical tape libraries, the NearStore VTL is a dedicated, enterprise-class storage appliance that stores large capacities of backup data on disk and automatically copies data to physical tape under backup application control.