High-End Switch Sales Buoy SAN Market

Enterprise Storage Forum content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

The overall SAN market was flat in the third quarter, but director-class switches were a bright spot, according to Dell’Oro Group.

Sales in the modular storage area network (SAN) switch segment (also known as directors) grew sequentially by 8 percent during the quarter, according to the group’s SAN Quarterly Report. The increase offset declines in the fixed switch and host bus adapter (HBA) segments, producing a flat result for the overall SAN market in the third quarter.

“Expectation of new product introductions during the past two quarters have led to pent-up demand for director switches,” said John Carvell, Dell’Oro’s principal analyst for SAN research. “This has benefited Brocade with its Silkworm 24000 and CNT with its UltraNet Multi-service Director in particular. Both companies have seen growth in revenue for these products.”

Total modular SAN switch revenue was $162 million in the third quarter, Dell’Oro Group said. McData saw its revenue decline by 6% in the quarter, while Brocade , Cisco and CNT posted strong growth.

Brocade grew director revenues by 15%, Cisco by 21%, and CNT by 27%.

Carvell said network managers are revising their SAN network strategy as growing volumes of information require greater storage capacity.

“Enterprises are deploying higher-density switches with increased port capacity to consolidate their network needs and handle increasing storage demand,” Carvell said. “As SAN architecture migrates from a flat topology to a core-to-edge solution, this transition will continue to fuel strong growth in the director product segment.”

Back To Enterprise Storage Forum

Paul Shread
Paul Shread
eSecurity Editor Paul Shread has covered nearly every aspect of enterprise technology in his 20+ years in IT journalism, including an award-winning series on software-defined data centers. He wrote a column on small business technology for Time.com, and covered financial markets for 10 years, from the dot-com boom and bust to the 2007-2009 financial crisis. He holds a market analyst certification.
Get the Free Newsletter!
Subscribe to Cloud Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.
Get the Free Newsletter!
Subscribe to Cloud Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.

Latest Articles

Backup and Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide

Backup and recovery is the process of creating and storing copies of data to protect against data loss. Learn more about backup and recovery with this guide.

10 Top Data Storage Certifications

Get up-to-date on the best data storage certifications for 2023. Learn which certifications are best for data storage engineers, administrators, and managers.

6 Best Data Storage Solutions and Software for 2023

Data storage solutions organize and backup enterprise data. Explore the top data storage software and vendors now.