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Technology Stocks : Brocade Communications Systems,Inc. (Nasdaq-BRCD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bruce Brown who wrote (870)	4/9/2001 7:08:55 AM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1583

April 9, 2001 Brocade Develops Data-Transfer Switch That Works Twice as Fast as Predecessor By JERRY GUIDERA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Brocade Communications Systems Inc., one of the fastest-growing parts suppliers in data storage, is developing a high-end switch that doubles the speed of its current products for about the same price. Brocade has been briefing analysts about the product, dubbed SilkWorm 12000, and plans to unveil a prototype at an industry conference Monday. The switch moves two gigabytes of data per second, up from one gigabyte in the current SilkWorm generation, and costs between $300,000 and $700,000. Two Switches Ordered Brocade, San Jose, Calif., says the new network switches will handle data transfers between incompatible networks and into storage boxes from different manufacturers. ManagedStorage International Inc., a Broomfield, Colo., storage-service provider for companies that opt to outsource their data-management needs, has ordered two of the new switches, with delivery expected in the fall. Walter Hinton, the company's technology chief, says the switch's new security features will allow his company to manage information from two customers simultaneously without compromising any of the data, so that one retailing customer, for example, couldn't see another's strategic information. One of Brocade's biggest customers, Compaq Computer Corp., also says it intends to buy the new switch. EMC Corp., the largest maker of corporate storage systems, wouldn't discuss its purchase plans. Along with a host of competing products expected this year, the new Brocade switch will help businesses link hundreds of disparate storage machines and servers in a single web, furthering the emerging "networking" trend in data management. Waning Demand Expected As more companies move away from traditional data storing, where storage caches are attached to computers that don't always communicate with each other, demand for so-called server-attached storage capacity from big computer makers such as Compaq, Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. is expected to continue to wane. Researcher Gartner Dataquest estimates that purchases of data-storage switches will more than double to more than $1.4 billion this year. Brocade revenue rose to $165 million in its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 27, from $42.7 million a year earlier, and more than quadrupled in its fiscal year ended Oct. 28, to $329 million. Earnings rose to $32.5 million from $7.3 million in the first quarter. But analysts have been cutting revenue and earnings forecasts for the current quarter and year. Write to Jerry Guidera at jerry.guidera@wsj.com