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Technology Stocks : The New QLogic (ANCR)
QLGC 16.070.0%Aug 24 5:00 PM EST
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To: Joe13579 who wrote (15853)4/22/1998 6:41:00 PM
From: George Dawson  Read Replies (1) of 29386
 
Robert,

Thanks for posting the opinion of the engineer/CEO. I have a few comments:

1. Based on all of the public information we have discussed on McData, EMC, and Brocade - I think the potential big winner here is Brocade. The data.com article on SANs shows that their full (McData/ES-4000)gig switch and their 1/4 (McData/ES-1000) gig switch do not have switching matrix backplanes and therefore probably can't provide the bandwidth necessary to switch heavy traffic. I have posted earlier that only Brocade and Ancor currently have this type of a switch. I located one of my earlier posts (#11197) referring to the McData Enterprise switch - and in that post I was confident that it was three Silkworms. It is interesting that the current EMC device uses two. At any rate EMC is really a storage powerhouse and if the Silkworm is being used they should sell a lot of them.

2. Ancor definitely needs a following. Funding for R & D is crucial. There has been talk about funding to ramp up production if they win an OEM deal, but if Brocade is really working on 2 and 4 gig FC (I would see this as the real meaning of the EMC release) they will have a product line that can be used for both SAN applications and clustering. Those higher speed switches will need major improvements in latency (1/10 the current latency). That will be a very tough product line to compete against.

3. I have previously posted that it seemed like many of the big players were waiting for Ancor to die on the vine. I think the competitive aspects of the FC switch market are being noticed. We all remember what the Silkworm used to cost before the MKII came out. I think that same bottom line will be driving some business decisions on whose FC switch should be used. When the major players are using FC in their storage products - you have to compete. Without Ancor there is no current or forseeable competition.

4. I think that the future looks fairly good for Brocade right now - but to the average investor there is no opportunity to make money. The future for Ancor will look good if they can sign a major deal. Whether Ancor participates or not - I think FC is here to stay for the immediate future - probably until WDM and all optical switching hits the LAN and SAN. The estimates I read say it is 10 years off.

All in my opinion,

George D.
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