Book Cookers
Former Brocade boss Greg Reyes became the poster boy for the options backdating scandal when the feds charged him with fraud last summer, but he had plenty of company when it comes to creative accounting practices. (See Reyes Charged With Fraud.) AMCC, Broadcom, CA, Dell, F5 Networks, Network Appliance, Marvell Technology Group, and Vitesse were all involved in internal probes, SEC investigations, or shareholder lawsuits questioning their financial dealings. (See Vendor Options Draw SEC Scrutiny, Dark Days at Dell, and NetApp Sued Over Options.)
EMC
Relatively speaking, it was a rocky year for the biggest pure-play storage company. EMC had two rough quarters and two layoffs; investors tired of its incessant acquisitions; and customers grew impatient waiting for new technology to be integrated into its products. (See Tucci: EMC's Problems 'Self-Induced', EMC Hiccups, Waits for Clariion, EMC Grabs Hatchet, EMC Brags on Revs, Plans Cuts, and Did EMC Overpay?.) Still, EMC is in better shape than the rest of the loser brigade. After all, it has VMware.
Hewlett-Packard
Any gains HP made with its storage product line were lost by the snooping scandal that cost a few execs and board members their jobs and brought about a humiliating apology from CEO Mark Hurd and a $14.5 million payment to settle civil suits. (See Hurd Apologizes, Probe 'Disturbing' HP's Penance Pondered.) Although probably unrelated to the scandal, HP's storage sales also cooled off late in the year after a nice rally over the previous 12 months. (See HP Rethinks Storage Plays and Storage Hurts HP's Quarter
McData Rank and File
While McData execs will get bonuses to hang around, a lot of McData's staff anticipate pink slips after the Brocade deal closes. The $100 million cost "synergies" Brocade boasted of saving when announcing the deal mean hundreds of layoffs next year.
Overland Storage
Overland is looking for a CEO after sending Chris Calisi packing in November. (See Overland Names Interim CEO.) Whoever gets the job will need a big broom to clean up the mess. In the last 16 months, Overland lost a tape library OEM deal with HP that accounted for most of its revenue, screwed up a smaller but key OEM deal with Dell before ever getting products out, and acquired software startup Zetta Systems only to close down its operations. Perhaps it's not surprising that Overland lost $20 million last quarter. (See Overland's Woes Widen.) That doesn't give the next CEO much to work with.
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