NetApp considering move to Innovation Campus

Courtesy of NetApp

Courtesy of NetApp

A prominent cloud data services company is considering setting up shop at Wichita State.

NetApp, a California-based Fortune 500 company, may relocate to Innovation Campus in the next few years, according to a university release.

“We’ve been talking for several months with NetApp’s leadership about the possibility of having their employees and facilities relocate to Innovation Campus, to work even more closely with WSU students, faculty and other researchers,” Interim President Andy Tompkins wrote in the release.

NetApp’s Wichita headquarters is currently on north Rock Road. The proposed move would be to a complex near 17th and Oliver Street that is yet to be built.

In 2014, it was announced that NetApp would be the first tenant of WSU’s fledgling Innovation Campus. The company already has lab space on Innovation Campus and is “one of the largest employers” of WSU students, according to the release.

“NetApp has had a relationship with Wichita State University for more than 20 years that has been focused on technological innovation, applied learning and regional economic growth,” said Robin Huber, site manager of Wichita operations. “We are committed to expanding our partnership in those areas, and that’s why we’re exploring the possibility of relocating NetApp’s Wichita operations to the WSU Innovation Campus.”

Tompkins noted that there are “a lot of bridges to cross before any of this is certain to happen,” but maintained that he and incoming University President Jay Golden are excited by the potential expansion of the partnership with NetApp.