The Sun Solaris-originated Zettabyte File System (ZFS) has long been praised for a number of its features — relying on pooled storage to help sidestep some of the common problems associated with other mainstream filesystems, while also enacting advanced file-integrity protections and safeguards.
But it also resulted in a lawsuit between NetApp and Sun Microsystems that sent reverberations throughout the storage industry, with several smaller specialty players shying away from ZFS-based offerings. Now with Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, however, NetApp and Oracle have agreed to drop the fight, potentially setting the stage for yet another industry shift. Enterprise Storage Forum reports.
The three-year legal battle between NetApp and Oracle has come to an end as the companies quietly dropped their dueling patent infringement lawsuits over the open source Zettabyte File System (ZFS).
Announced this morning via NetApp’s (NASDAQ: NTAP) website, the companies have agreed to dismiss their pending patent litigation, which began when NetApp sued Sun Microsystems in September of 2007 and became Oracle’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) problem when it acquired Sun last year.