Infonetics Research: Cisco Closing Gap with Brocade in SAN Equipment Segment; Market Up 2% QoQ, 12% YoY

CAMPBELL, Calif. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Market research firm Infonetics Research today released excerpts from its third quarter (3Q11) SAN Equipment market share and forecast report, which tracks storage area network (SAN) switches and adapters and the vendors that manufacture them.

ANALYST NOTE

“Convergence is coming but Fibre Channel is alive and well in the storage area network equipment market. As predicted, the march towards data center network convergence continues, with Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) SAN switches taking center stage in the third quarter of 2011 with nearly 170% year-over-year growth. Not to be discounted, 16G Fibre Channel also made a big splash with its introduction and first product shipments,” notes Sam Barnett, directing analyst for data center and cloud at Infonetics Research.

SAN EQUIPMENT MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• The global SAN equipment market grew 2% in 3Q11 over 2Q11, to $764 million, as SAN switch sales increased while SAN adapter sales declined
• Year-over-year, the SAN switch and adapter market is up 12% worldwide
• Just over a year ago, Brocade had about twice the market share of Cisco in overall SAN equipment revenue, but the success of its data center convergence strategy has propelled Cisco to within 8 market share points of Brocade in 3Q11
• In the SAN adapter space, the 2 kingpins QLogic and Emulex still hold majority share of the combined host bus adapters (HBA) and converged network adapters (CAN) segment in 3Q11

SAN EQUIPMENT REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ quarterly SAN Equipment report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, forecasts, and analysis for Fiber Channel host bus adapters (FC HBAs), iSCSI host bus adapters (iSCSI HBAs), FCoE converged network adapters (CNAs), and chassis and fixed Fibre Channel and FCoE SAN switches by type (10G FCoE, FC 2G, FC 4G, FC 8G, FC 16G, iSCSI). Vendors tracked: ATTO, Brocade, Chelsio, Cisco, Dell, Emulex, Intel, LSI, Mellanox/Voltaire, Myricom, Neterion, QLogic, others.

RELATED / UPCOMING RESEARCH

Log in to Infonetics’ online portal (http://www.infonetics.com/login) to download report highlights, prospectuses, tables of contents, etc. (see DATA CENTER AND CLOUD).

• Latest Infonetics Data Center and Cloud research newsletter: http://bit.ly/ywLDDH
• Data center equipment market up 12%, F5 jumps past HP into the #2 spot behind Cisco
• Service providers expanding data center offerings on quest for new revenue
• Operators embracing cloud services in earnest, significantly expanding cloud offerings
• 4Q11 Data Center Network Equipment Market Share / Forecast (Mar. 5)
• 4Q11 SAN Equipment Market Share / Forecast (Mar. 12)
• 4Q11 Total Data Center and SAN Equipment Pivot (March 2012)
• Data Center Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey (2012)
• Data Center Deployment Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey (2012)
• Cloud Service Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey (2012)
• Cloud Service Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey (2012)

SALES

• Larry Howard, VP, Western NA, Asia, CALA: larry@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3335
• Scott Coyne, Eastern NA, Texas, Midwest: scott@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3395
• George Stojsavljevic, EMEA: george@infonetics.com, +44-755-488-1623
• Japan, Taiwan, Korea: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

Infonetics Research is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete more effectively.

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