Enterprise network vendor Brocade took 54 percent of storage area network (SAN) equipment revenue in 2013, gaining 3 points, mostly at the expense of Cisco, said Infonetics Research.
QLogic’s purchase of Brocade’s adapter business and Broadcom’s Ethernet controller business will put QLogic in the number-2 spot behind Emulex when the deal closes later this year.
The converged data center network adapter market is up 12 percent in 2013 from 2012, with CNAs in the lead, followed by iSCSI adapters; universal adapters are at the back of the pack.
SAN equipment revenue (Fiber Channel switches and adapters) grew 14 percent sequentially in Q4 2013 to $648 million.
16G Fiber Channel started shipping in large quantities in 2013, but it was not enough to save the SAN equipment market from a 7 percent decline year-over-year.
Cliff Grossner, directing analyst for data center and cloud at Infonetics Research, said: “Emulex is firing back with 40GE converged network adapters (CNAs), which it will begin shipping in Q1 2014 – the first adapter vendor to do so.”
Infonetics Research’s SAN and Converged Data Center Network Equipment report tracks storage area network (SAN) Fiber channel switches and host bus adapters (HBAs), converged data center network adapters, and switch ports in use for storage.
