Storage technology firm NetApp dedicates a new 155,000 square facility building – the fifth at its RTP campus – and will add “on the order of 150 new positions” to man it, says the company executive who oversees its Triangle operations.

The California-based firm is boosting its headcount in multiple ways – with the new jobs and through 10 interns trained in part by Wake Tech Community College – despite the fact NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP) has gone through two rounds of layoffs recently.

There are numerous positions already available, in fact.

Rich Clifton, executive vice president of Customer Success Operations and the second NetApp employee hired in the Triangle when the company expanded here in 1999, cited numerous reasons why NetApp’s work force of some 1,600 locally continues to grow.

They include

  • Costs, such as land, taxes and utilities as well as state and local government support
  • The importance of the NetApp teams already in place
  • The strengths of RTP in general, ranging from work force availability to the quality of life which helps NetApp recruit “globally”

“I believe we will generate in the order of 150 new positions,” Clifton said about manpower needed for the new facility.

NetApp is receiving support from three N.C. Job Development Investment Grants, or JDIGs, which promise tax rebates based on recipients meeting new job creation goals. NetApp is in compliance will all three of those, Clifton said.

In an interview after the ribbon cutting which drew N.C. Secretary of Commerce Ellen Decker, Clifton noted that current openings number ‘at least in the dozens. There is a constant opening and closing process. It’s a given that it’s different from yesterday.”

NetApp is a significant player in the very competitive “cloud computing” and data storage markets. Sales turbulence has hit in recent quarters, leading to the layoffs.

More bad news came last week when Bloomberg news reported that IBM would stop reselling some NetApp hardware.

In April, longtime Chairman Dan Warmenhoven was replaced by current CEO Tom Georgens. Georgens replaced Warmenhoven as chief executive officer in August of 2009.

Georgens was in RTP for two days this week, working with local employees as NetApp prepared to dedicate the new building, Clifton noted. Like Warmenhoven, Georgens is committed to NetApp’s Triangle outpost, he said.

Challenges, Opportunities

Clifton acknowledges that the storage and cloud markets are changing but pointed out a recent report from international research firm IDC ranked NetApp No. 1 in storage solutions shipped in 2012 for public cloud infrastructure. The report was issued in December and is issued every two years.

He also pointed out that RTP’s NetApp operations are working on software, products, services and solutions that are essential to the company’s future.

Called GDL-2, the “global dynamic lab” is loaded with gear and networking infrastructure to facilitate research and design for solutions that Clifton says position NetApp to meet the needs of “all sizes enterprises.” The building is adjacent to GDL-1.

Both were built from the ground floor by NetApp. The three other buildings were incomplete “shells” acquired from nearby Cisco. These house most of the Triangle employees.

NetApp also is zeroing in on the potential of helping clients manage data between “on-prem” and “off-prem” – on a company’s premises and off premises hardware.

The “core teams” focused on what NetApp sees as future opportunities are “based in the teams at RTP.” he says. These are their “primary charters.”