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Cisco Storage Stays Mysterious

Posted by byteandswitch.com on August 12, 2004

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As is often the case in the aftermath of a Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) earnings report, storage observers are left scrambling to decipher how much progress the company is really making with its SAN switches.

On a conference call with analysts last night, CEO John Chambers failed to disclose storage revenue in a quarter in which the company performed well overall (see Cisco Sales Hit $5.9B for Q4). Chambers did let drop that storage revenues grew 41 percent from last quarter and 180 percent from last year. But Cisco had not disclosed its revenue in the quarters to which Chambers referred.

However, sources last August revealed that Cisco did $14.5 million in revenue from storage for the preceding quarter (see Cisco Misses SAN Sales Target). Extrapolating from that figure places the most recent quarter at $40.6 million, up from $29.6 million in the previous quarter.

We do know that Cisco reported $40 million in storage revenue for the quarter that ended in January. So it appears that, while Cisco gained momentum entering 2004, it slid backward last quarter before climbing back to where it was at the start of the year.

Not everyone agrees with this view. Analysts' revenue estimates vary widely, from the low $30 million range to the mid $60 millions. Here's a sampling of the current theories: