The result of Brocade's $3 billion acquisition of Foundry is expected to present customers with a viable 
alternative to Cisco in the data center. As customers weigh the pros and cons of emerging data center technologies, such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet - which is being backed by Brocade and Cisco - a combined Foundry-Brocade wants to be on every Cisco customer's radar. But does Brocade-Foundry have what it takes to take on Cisco? Here's a quick roundup of what the analysts are saying:
According to an Associated Press story, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Ryan Hutchinson doesn't believe the news is a material threat to Cisco's LAN switching business. "We believe any strategic gains from having footholds in storage, LAN switching and carrier routing are likely long-term-focused and incremental gains will likely be immaterial to Cisco," he is quoted as saying in the AP story.
Another AP story suggests:
The acquisition promises to make Brocade a more well-rounded competitor to Cisco, but isn't likely to substantially dent Cisco's dominance because Foundry Networks, with $607 million in sales last year, is considered a niche player.
Meanwhile a SearchStorage story cites a research report by Wachovia analyst Aaron Rakers, who notes that the buy was financed with $1.4 billion in cash and $1.5 billion in debt, "resulting in a net-debt position," according to the story.
Nevertheless, Brocade believes the field is wide open for an alternative to Cisco as customers look to update their data center infrastructures.
Would a combined Brocade-Foundry make it on your radar?
* Read our bloggers' take on the union:
Reese: Dell Oro Group take on Foundry and Brocade merger
Morris: Brocade Buying Foundry...Has to be an FCoE Play
Lewis: Brocade Buys Foundry: Good Idea?
More from Cisco Subnet:
Carriers prop up Cisco growth
Juniper's enterprise switch could give Cisco pause
Cisco certs and home labs, a great discussion
The 10 most interesting entries from the Cisco iPrize contest
Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.
The Cisco Subnet blog is the official blog of the Network World Cisco Subnet community, managed by Editor Linda Leung. Cisco Subnet is the independent voice of Cisco customers and is your gateway to daily Cisco news, blogs, opinion, books, prize giveaways and more. Visit the Cisco Subnet home page daily and while you are there, subscribe to the Cisco Alert e-mail newsletter, which includes news and views generated by the Cisco Subnet community as well as Cisco-related stories on Network World and elsewhere on the Web.
(WAN community)The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
|
|
Your Story Needs Correcting
Foundry didn't buy Brocade. Brocade bought Foundry.
"The result of Foundry's $3 billion acquisition of Brocade is ...."
Corrected
Thanks for pointing out the error. The story has been corrected.
Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.
At time of market disruption
I think the real point is that we might be witnessing a market disruption point. Brocade / Foundry is not nearly as serious a threat as Juniper / Woven might be.
Brocade will flog Foundry to their storage customers, but Networkers nmight walk away, especially service providers who rely on Foundry for cheaper alternatives to Cisco - Brocade will look to charge a premium for their Storage equipment and features, will this translate for data networks ? Will a merger of storage and data networking achieve cost savings and new business ?
Now Juniper could move into this space, and potentially even penetrate the Enterprise to some extent. What if they bought Woven or Force 10 ?
I am thinking its the market disruption that Cisco will be managing and attacking, not the rise of Brocade.
http://etherealmind.com
How things change
Wasn't it like, oh I don't know, last week that Brocade was poo pooing the idea of FcOE as not even being close to ready for prime time when in fact a small OSM named EMC actually has an FCoE HBA that will be shipping shortly. Looks like a desperate move by two desperate companies. Funny how when Cisco had FCoE product ready in the Nexus platforms Brocade says it isn't viable. Why buy Foundry then? Good luck playing catch up.
Bone up, dude
Your comments shows your simple, linear (and severely uninformed) understanding of FCoE. FCoE isn't merely FC + Ethernet. That may sound nice, but it isn't reality. Reality is that it's a new protocol that looks, feels, behaves, quacks (whatever) like Fibre Channel. The underlying Ethernet part isn't the Ethernet that Foundry will be bringing to Brocade. It's a completely new technology that hasn't even been developed as a standard yet. Nobody's won in this space yet. Does Foundry help Brocade ultimately in bringing out a better FCoE product? Of course. But is it the reason Brocade bought Foundry? No.
Which minds me of joke
When is Ethernet not Ethernet ?
When it's Fibrechannel over Ethernet!
Oh, how we laughed.
http://etherealmind.com
Post new comment