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Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. K. G. who wrote (4472)	3/25/2002 9:48:40 PM
From: D. K. G.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4808

Brocade Releases 12000... Again? byteandswitch.com Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD - message board) has announced that its SilkWorm 12000 Fibre Channel switch is now "generally available" to its OEM partners, as of this week (see Brocade Releases SilkWorm 12000). [Ed. note: Hmmm, deja vu, anybody? See Brocade's Slip-Sliding SilkWorm and Is Brocade's SilkWorm Losing the Thread?.] OEMs including Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ - message board), Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL - message board), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC - message board), Fujitsu Ltd. (KLS: FUJI.KL), Groupe Bull, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM - message board), MTI Technology Corp. (Nasdaq: MTIC - message board), NEC, Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK - message board), and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - message board) were all listed in a Brocade press release making positive noises about the product. However, none of the OEMs named a customer that has shown any interest in the 12000 yet. Brocade made the announcement at an industry event for financial analysts on Monday. The word from an analyst at the conference, who agreed to be quoted on condition of anonymity, is that Brocade is expected to meet or exceed its second-quarter estimates: "There’s a lot of upbeat commentary here about Brocade’s upcoming quarter results, and as far as the 12000 goes, it continues to muscle its way into this space." Brocade officials say its technology strategy is to deliver storage virtualization and next-generation SAN security, and to accelerate the deployment of enterprise SANs. Company officials did not return requests for comment. Brocade considers the 12000 the cornerstone of its entry into high-end enterprise storage networking. That's why CEO Greg Reyes apparently became riled when end-users at a show last week in Chicago expressed concerns about McData Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MCDTA - message board) patent lawsuit against Brocade, which is aimed squarely at knocking out this product (see Reyes Lashes Out at McData). "Reyes is determined not to let a little thing like a patent lawsuit get in his way," says Galen Schreck, analyst with Forrester Research Inc. (see McData Files Injunction, Stock Sinks). McData issued a statement Monday, clarifying its position on the lawsuit: "The fact that Brocade would announce yet another infringing product less than two weeks after we gave them notice with our lawsuit is very disconcerting... Brocade has stated publicly that turning off the frame filtering feature is a simple step. Our expectation is that they will honor our innovation and our patent by immediately disabling this feature in their products." Unless it's proven in court that Brocade has indeed infringed on McData's patent -- an allegation Brocade has repeatedly and heatedly denied -- Brocade will no doubt continue to ignore this request. Brocade ended the day trading down 5.8 percent, at $24.50, amid a general market decline. — Jo Maitland, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch byteandswitch.com