Dell’Oro Group Forecasts Fibre Channel Switch Sales to Surpass $2 Billion in 2008

Fibre Channel Beats Out Ethernet on a Cost per Gigabit of Bandwidth

Redwood City, Calif. – January 30, 2007 – In a newly released report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for information about the telecommunications and networking industries, Fibre Channel switch revenues are expected to exceed $2.0 billion by 2008 and to continually increase through 2011.

“More and more enterprises are installing fiber cabling to future-proof their network,” said Tam Dell’Oro, President and Founder of Dell’Oro Group. “Once fiber cabling has been installed, Fibre Channel becomes a “no brainer” choice for storage networking over alternatives such as iSCSI and Ethernet. For example, on a high-end switch, 1 Gbps Ethernet over fiber is selling for about $600 a port – the same price as a 4 Gbps Fibre Channel port that provides four times the bandwidth,” added Dell’Oro.

The Dell’Oro Group report also indicates that the shipments of Host Bus Adapter (HBA) ports will grow significantly over the next five years as blade server manufacturers shift the manufacturing of mezzanine HBA cards to HBA vendors, such as Emulex and QLogic.

About the Report

The Dell’Oro Group 5-Year Forecast Report provides a complete overview of the SAN industry with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and port shipments (by speed 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, and greater than or equal to 4 Gbps) for Fibre Channel switches and Fibre Channel HBAs. To purchase this report, call Karen Yang +1.650.622.9400 x222 or email Karen@DellOro.com.

About Dell’Oro Group

As the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, Dell’Oro Group provides in-depth, objective research and analysis that enables component manufacturers, equipment vendors, and investment firms to make fact-based, strategic decisions. For more information, contact Dell’Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.DellOro.com.