During my 30 years in the technology business, every market segment seems to be driven by key “once- in-a-decade opportunities.” This is true for CPUs, x86 servers, storage, networking, operating systems and the list goes on. One of the key reasons for this is major changes in IT don’t happen overnight, and our industry needs years to develop, test and build a viable value proposition and ecosystem around these major changes. For example, I worked for Apple for a while, and at Apple it was the Macintosh in the ‘80s, then the iMac in the ‘90s, then came the iPod and iPhone ‘00s. Emulex has been at the forefront of many transitions over the last three decades, but in the 1990s, it was all about Fibre Channel. We moved into a new space that required new technologies, products, partnerships and customers. Storage Area Networks (SANs) were just emerging and from 1Gb/s to 2Gb/s to 4Gb/s to 8Gb/s, our business, the ecosystem and the industry evolved to meet this once-in-a-decade opportunity. Every business then spends some of their time and resources looking for the new “once-in-a-decade opportunity.”
For Emulex, in the 2010s, it is clearly about network convergence based on 10Gb/s Ethernet (10GbE). Our second-generation Universal Converged Network Adapter (UCNA) recently won both the New Product of the Year and the Infrastructure Product of the Year awards from Network Computing. This, combined with our bevy of announced 10GbE design wins with HP, IBM and NetApp is just the beginning of our next transition. According to the Dell‘Oro group, 10GbE revenues for Network Interface Cards (NICs), iSCSI adapters and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) will top $900 million by 2013, and it is expected to continue to be a fast-growing market. Needless to say, we are very focused on capturing this ”once-in-a-decade opportunity.” So, what will it take to make this a “once- in-a-decade transition?”
- Investment Ahead of the Revenue Curve – Emulex has spent the past three years working to build the technology and vision for network convergence, and we are starting to see that growth happening in the market.
- Proven 10GbE, iSCSI and Fibre Channel Technology – Emulex has over 7 million host and 60 million target Fibre Channel ports installed across the world’s most demanding enterprise applications. We have incorporated world-class IP and iSCSI technology via license and partners to build the product of the year and win key OEM design wins.
http://www.emulex.com/products.html - OEM Design Wins – We recently announced designs with HP, IBM and NetApp for 10GbE NICs, FCoE adapters and the option to add iSCSI hardware offload based on our award-winning OneConnect UCNAs.
http://www.emulex.com/resources/press-releases/2010.html - Ecosystem Partners – We are working with over 80 leading server, operating system (OS), switch, appliance, storage and application vendors to prove our 10GbE convergence solutions improve application service-level agreements (SLAs), operational expense (OPEX) and capital expense (CAPEX) demands.
http://www.emulex.com/partners/emulex-connect-ecosystem-partner-program.html - A Real-World Value Proposition – IT managers need to know that what they are buying will not only meet their needs, but help their businesses be more competitive in their respective fields. This is why we provide tools like our Convergenomics™ calculator to help establish a real-world return on investment (ROI) for moving to network convergence.
- A Road Map Forward – Finally, IT managers, OEMs and partners need to know that you have a long-term road map moving forward. Inside each of those major technologies transitions listed above, many smaller micro transitions occur. In the Fibre Channel market, it was from 1Gb/s to 2Gb/s to 4Gb/s and now to 8Gb/s. Each of these changes was driven by performance demands, bus transitions and server architecture changes. Emulex has a road map that will take our customers forward from today’s 10GbE to 40GbE to 100GbE as well as 16Gb/s Fibre Channel. We know that being a long-term proven partner is vital for everyone in the market and required to have the industry accept Emulex as for the next 30 years and beyond.
This is quite a list of requirements, but we have done it before in our 30 year history and will do it again many more times for all of the smaller interim transitions during the 10GbE network convergence market and the next “once-in-a-decade opportunity” coming our way.
The purpose of our blog are to facilitate an ongoing conversation on what's going on in our industry, with our partners and customers. We encourage your comments. Your ideas and feedback are what makes our blogs interesting, timely and useful for our readers.
We want to publish your comments, however, all comments are moderated. Offensive, off-topic or fraudulent comments won't be approved. We also expect a basic level of civility; disagreements are expected, but mutual respect is a must. We will not post comments that contain vulgar or abusive language; personal attacks of any kind; or offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups. Comments that make accusations will also not be posted.
By submitting a comment, you agree to these terms; having your name displayed with your comment and that you are 18 years old or older. Your name and personal information will not be used for any other purpose, and your e-mail address will not be published.