With a 65% share of the SAN market, the company is in an enviable position to jump on next-generation opportunities due to its established presence and familiarity among IT professionals in current data center infrastructures.

Yet, as the industry moves to a converged LAN/SAN infrastructure with Ethernet at the core, must balance the trend delicately. It must migrate its installed base to Fibre Channel-over-Ethernet without disrupting the revenue stream and profit margins it currently relies on from that base. It must also stave off aggressive competition from rivals -- chiefly Cisco -- invigorated by the next-gen data center opportunity.

And it must demonstrate an expertise in Ethernet through a proven product line that appeals to customers, ability to integrate with Fibre Channel and a road map to embrace new Ethernet standard specifically for the next-gen data center opportunity.

That's where the company's $3 billion in 2008 comes in. Foundry has a proven product line that carved out a 2%-plus share of the $17 billion Ethernet switching market over the past 10 to 15 years. But Brocade is now faced with refreshing that line, integrating it tightly with its Fibre Channel SAN base and making it attractive to new markets needing a next-gen, Ethernet-based fabric for their data centers.