[March 23, 2012]

Infonetics Research: Storage Area Network Equipment Poised for 50% Growth in 2012

Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its recently published fourth quarter (4Q11) SAN Equipment market share and forecast report, which tracks storage area network switches and adapters.

ANALYST NOTE

"We're forecasting the overall storage area network equipment market to jump close to 50% in 2012 on the strength of Fibre Channel adapters, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) converged network adapters, and FCoE-capable switches. We expect eye-popping growth in the nascent 16G Fibre Channel host bus adapters segment," notes Sam Barnett, directing analyst for data center and cloud at Infonetics Research.

SAN EQUIPMENT MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• Global sales of SAN switches and adapters jumped 12.5% in 4Q11 to $1.3 billion, marking the overall market's 7^th consecutive quarterly gain
• FCoE-capable switch revenue grew 24% in 4Q11 over the previous quarter
• The emerging FCoE converged network adapter (CNA) market segment doubled in global revenue between the third and fourth quarters of 2011
• Infonetics (News - Alert) forecasts the overall SAN switch and adapter market to grow to just under $10 billion by 2016
• Brocade strengthened its commanding lead in the Fibre Channel SAN switch market, ending the 2011 year with 2/3 of the global revenue; Cisco (News - Alert) remains its strongest competitor
• Cisco is the clear leader in FCoE-capable switches, commanding 88% of the global market in 2011
• QLogic and Emulex (News - Alert) still hold majority share of the SAN adapter space, both posting healthy revenue gains in 2011 once again, though their rivals are also making steady headway as well

SAN EQUIPMENT REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics' quarterly SAN Equipment report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, forecasts, and analysis for Fiber Channel host bus adapters (FC HBAs), iSCSI host bus adapters (iSCSI HBAs), FCoE converged network adapters (CNAs), and chassis and fixed Fibre Channel and all FCoE-capable switches that are purpose-built for the data center (10G FCoE, FC 2G, FC 4G, FC 8G, FC 16G, iSCSI). Vendors tracked: ATTO, Brocade, Chelsio, Cisco, Dell, Emulex, Intel, LSI, Mellanox (News - Alert)/Voltaire, Myricom, Neterion, QLogic, others.

RELATED RESEARCH

Download Infonetics report highlights, prospectuses, etc. at http://www.infonetic.com/login (see DATA CENTER AND CLOUD).

• Latest Infonetics Data Center and Cloud research newsletter: http://bit.ly/GLtR3C
• Overall data center equipment market up 9% in 2011; F5 and HP in dead heat behind Cisco
• Data center equipment market up 12%, F5 jumps ahead of HP into #2 spot behind Cisco
• Cisco closing gap with Brocade in SAN equipment segment; market up 2% in Q3
• Service providers expanding data center offerings on quest for new revenue
• Operators embracing cloud services in earnest, significantly expanding cloud offerings

UPCOMING RESEARCH

• Log in to download Infonetics' 2012 Research Publication Calendar: http://bit.ly/zwjcRs
• Quarterly Data Center Network Equipment Market Share / Forecast
• Quarterly SAN Equipment Market Share / Forecast
• Quarterly Total Data Center and SAN Equipment Pivot
• Cloud Service Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey
• Data Center Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey
• Data Center Deployment Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey
• Cloud Service Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Infonetics continues to rapidly expand and is looking to hire more analysts. See http://bit.ly/jmXOYO for current job openings, which include a senior Video analyst and market analyst with enterprise VoIP expertise.

SALES

• Larry Howard, N. America (West), Asia, Latin America: larry@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3335
• Scott Coyne, N. America (East), Texas, Midwest: scott@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3395
• George Stojsavljevic, Europe, Middle East, Africa: george@infonetics.com, +44-755-488-1623
• Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

Infonetics Research (News - Alert) (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively.

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