Global Economic Woe forces NetApp Conference Cancellation

By Greg McNevin

October 29, 2008: It appears that companies are moving to reign in spending in the face of the world financial crisis, with NetApp announcing that it has cancelled its 2009 user conference in California.

The company says that next year’s NetApp Accelerate, which was to be held in February, has been called off in response to customer feedback regarding increasing restrictions on corporate travel.

Announced in August this year, the conference initially garnered a lot of interest according to NetApp, however, with the economic crisis apparently starting to hit home many of those who signed up are backing out, with NetApp offering full refunds of deposits and conference fees already paid.

“We had more customer interest in NetApp Accelerate than we anticipated,” said Elisa Steele, senior vice president, Corporate Marketing, at NetApp.

“But those same customers told us their travel budgets were being cut and it was difficult to commit to attending in today’s climate of economic uncertainty. For those reasons, we decided to cancel this year’s program.”

It may be one of the first, but with budget’s tightening like a bungee rope with a small car on the end, NetApp’s event is most likely not going to be the last.

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