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Switching Gears: Page 3 of 3

Of course, the current situation won't last. Eventually McData products will go away and there is no guarantee HBA vendor QLogic can cross over successfully. A few years from now, we could be left with Brocade and Cisco as the only Fibre Channel switch vendors. They would be able to keep prices high as Brocade and McData did before Cisco invaded their turf, and as Emulex and QLogic have done as the only two major HBA alternatives.

Then again, as the last year has showed us, there could be several new twists coming our way soon.

Dave Raffo, News Editor, Byte and Switch

  • Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD)
  • Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)
  • Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ)
  • IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)
  • McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA)
  • QLogic Corp.