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Brocade Busts Out 10-Gbit/s Plans: Page 2 of 4

Brocade's vice president of worldwide sales Ian Whiting admitted that some McData customers had "opened the door" to Cisco during the acquisition process, although he explained that Brocade "stopped that train."

Reassuring McData customers that their existing support contacts would remain in place was a key part of this effort, according to the exec. "We basically blitzed the marketplace. We went out and said farewell to our families for a number of weeks," he said.

This situation was complicated by the deal coming under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. government agency charged with anti-competitive oversight. (See Brocade-McData Draws Extra Scrutiny.) "We were in the ring with our hands tied behind our back," said Klayko, adding that Brocade was limited in what it could tell McData customers at that time.

This all changed Jan. 29 when the acquisition was completed. Whiting explained that Brocade has not lost any McData customers since then, but he didn't reveal how many users jumped ship prior to closing the deal.

At least one analyst cited Brocade's financial outlook as evidence of a solid McData integration, citing the vendor's decision to raise its annual earnings estimate to between 49 and 51 cents, from 47 to 49 cents. "This represents yet another positive indication of the company's integration work on McData," said A.G. Edwards analyst Aaron Rakers in a note released yesterday.