Michael Klayko has been CEO of Brocade since 2005. The company didn't say why he decided to leave, but there has been discussion lately about whether Klayko is the right CEO for the company, said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst with ZK Research.

"Decisions like these are never easy, but I believe it is the right time," Klayko was quoted as saying in a .

The storage networking market has changed significantly in the seven years since he became CEO. With the recent growth of software-defined networking, Brocade faces a new wave of competition from both established players and startups.

Klayko has been a good salesman and good at dealing with customers, but those may not be the skills Brocade needs anymore to move forward, Kerravala said.

"He's a sales guy at heart. I think what they need now is someone who's going to bring some aggressiveness and operational discipline to the company," he said.