Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The New QLogic (ANCR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roy Sardina who wrote (14519)	2/19/1998 2:31:00 PM
From: Craig Stevenson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Roy, I see what you mean. In essence, an 8-port switch lowers the cost of entry into a switched environment over a 16-port switch, just because there are less ports at x dollars per port. Reducing the feature count would also help to reduce the overall cost of the unit, even factoring in overhead costs from the case, power supply, etc. I've always wondered why nobody makes some sort of Fibre Channel aggregating product, similar to a Fast Ethernet switch with a Gigabit Ethernet uplink. It would seem to me that a lot of companies could go with dedicated 1/4 gig to the workstations and/or server/storage units, as long as the pipe to the other side of the network was big enough. As companies migrate to native IP networks, Fibre Channel actually makes more sense than some of the other technologies, and it certainly is faster than Fast Ethernet, even at 1/4 gig speeds. Is switch saturation not a problem even with Sequent type applications? Perhaps the lure of a larger scale switch is simply because of the reduced wiring complexity, or perhaps a cost advantage over multiple switches. At what point do you guys start to see saturation on an Arbitrated Loop? I realize that this will vary widely, based on the traffic patterns, but I'm trying to get a handle on how many devices can realistically be attached to a single loop before it bottlenecks. Craig P.S. I do appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions. Having worked for Brocade, and now for G2, you are as close to an industry insider as we can find.

To: Roy Sardina who wrote (14519)	2/19/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Craig Stevenson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Roy, During the Ancor conference call, they said that to the best of their knowledge, Ancor was the only company shipping a switch with Arbitrated Loop. Brocade advertises this capability for SilkWorm on their web site. Are they having problems actually shipping it out the door? Perhaps A/L is tougher to do than they thought? How does Brocade do A/L? From the looks of it, it is some sort of daughter card. How important is Arbitrated Loop support? Some applications, like Sequent, don't appear to need it, but it seems to me like it would be critical for storage. On another note, how imminent do you think the introduction of Brocade's 8-port switch is? Craig

To: Roy Sardina who wrote (14519)	2/21/1998 3:30:00 AM
From: Kerry Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Roy, since you went on record predicting a Brocade/IBM relationship as well as detailing Brocade 8 port switch plans and $1,000 per port oem price, I assume you are no longer bound by any confidentiality agreement with your former employer Brocade. I hear that all the bankers are falling over themselves trying to get a piece of the Brocade IPO..Brocade has already presented at recent Morgan Stanley and Morgan Keegan investor conferences. Next week, Brocade is presenting at the BARS Tech '98 Conference on Tuesday at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco. With a highly anticipated Brocade IPO just around the corner, why did you leave such a hot company before it went public? Didn't you leave alot of money on the table?