An analyst gave QLogic Corp. the edge over rival and former parent company Emulex Corp. in fourth-quarter sales of host bus adapters.
The news sent Aliso Viejo-based QLogic’s shares up nearly 4% at Thursday’s close. Emulex, based in Costa Mesa, closed down less than 1%.
The companies dominate the market for host bus adapters, circuit boards that link computers on data storage networks.
Kaufman Bros. analyst Shebly Seyrafi told the Associated Press that his research showed “strong growth for both Emulex and QLogic in the fourth quarter, with QLogic slightly outgrowing Emulex.”
QLogic also is seeing growth in sales of storage switches, which direct data on networks.
Last year, the company decided to sell off its slower controller business for disk drives, a move praised by Seyrafi.
The rivarly between QLogic and Emulex is alive and well, according to the analyst.
Emulex has won business from Sun Microsystems Inc. and “can take away business from one of QLogic’s larger customers,” he said.
Sun makes up about 15% of QLogic’s sales.
Emulex spun off QLogic in the early 1990s.
