Cisco Fibre Channel share plummets

Brocade takes market share from Cisco

Developments of the week in storage

Cisco's share in Fibre Channel networking fell 45% in the first quarter of this year, according to a Dell'Oro report, a move Dell’Oro says may have come about because of channel conflict.

In March of this year, Cisco became interested in blade servers and entered the market with blade servers of its own, jeopardizing its former relationships with HP and IBM. The response – "Don't partner with Cisco for Fibre Channel switches. Select Brocade instead – they don't stab their partners in the back, at least not yet."

Brocade's Fibre Channel market share increased by 14 points in the first quarter, increasing its market share to 67%.1, compared with Cisco's significantly reduced 32.6% share.

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Cisco's share in Fibre Channel networking fell 45% in the first quarter of this year, according to a Dell'Oro report, a move Dell’Oro says may have come about because of channel conflict.

In March of this year, Cisco became interested in blade servers and entered the market with blade servers of its own, jeopardizing its former relationships with HP and IBM. The response – "Don't partner with Cisco for Fibre Channel switches. Select Brocade instead – they don't stab their partners in the back, at least not yet."

Brocade's Fibre Channel market share increased by 14 points in the first quarter, increasing its market share to 67%.1, compared with Cisco's significantly reduced 32.6% share.

"There's been a landslide shift in market share in just one quarter," said Tam Dell'Oro, founder and president of the Dell'Oro Group. "Brocade is directly benefiting from the channel conflict."

In other news, the ANSI T11 committee ratified the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard which tiptoes between the Fibre Channel world Brocade is immersed in and the Ethernet world that Cisco dominates. Both companies have introduced FCoE switches and both have to make sure that the technology doesn't cannibalize their Fibre Channel market share.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.

Deni Connor is principal analyst for Storage Strategies NOW and host of both the Masters of Storage and Masters of Servers Solution Centers.