U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst, Ashok Kumar
biz.yahoo.com
Q: So when do you think the data-storage industry will recover from this downturn?
A: For these products to have broad market acceptance, there would have to be a reincarnation. That will be some time in coming. The market needs a lot of storage capacity, but I'm not sure that the market truly needs networked storage. It's not a complete solution.
Q: What will happen to these companies? You wrote recently that you think Network Appliance will be acquired, and suggested Oracle (NasdaqNM:ORCL) should buy it.
A: Some companies will find that they can provide a better bang for the buck -- both for their technology users and their shareholders -- if they are part of a larger entity with a broader product offering. When I look out far enough, the technology and expertise from the storage and networking industry will converge, and telecommunications and computer-hardware vendors will all come into this market.
Q: Was growth in the data-storage sector fed by hype?
A: It most definitely was overhyped. When you look at the broad storage market, the legacy systems are direct-attached [storage units attached directly to computer network servers]. The emerging opportunity was networked storage. That led to the growth of companies like QLogic (QLGC) and Brocade, which sell components for storage area networks [SANs], and Network Appliance (NTAP), which sells network-attached storage systems.
The basic point I've tried to convey is that the need for storage capacity does not necessarily translate into a need for a storage network, which is really too complex for most companies to embrace. |
