Struggling Brocade plans extreme makeover

06.02.2006
Brocade Communications Systems Inc. plans to boost its prospects by remaking itself from a struggling supplier of hardware to one that offers an expanded mix of switches, software and services.

Declining revenue and the resignations of its CEO and chief financial officer over the past year have stressed the company and prompted the creation of the new plan.

Users interviewed last week agreed that San Jose-based Brocade has to find ways to grow its business but said they likely won't turn to the company for software or services.

Scott Saunders, director of MIS at Paxson Communications Corp. in West Palm Beach, Fla., a Brocade customer for six years, said he's not interested in buying such products from a switch maker.

"That's not usually the channel you go to for that kind of stuff," he said. "That is the trend, though, because software and services is where the bucks are, and hardware is such a commodity, even though their switches are still kind of pricey."

Rick Curry, vice president of infrastructure engineering at Union Bank of California NA in San Francisco, said that he isn't likely to purchase storage management software from Brocade. "I'd rather align with a storage management solution that is more vendor-neutral," he said in an e-mail.