Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. grew its market share lead in the first quarter over rival Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa in fibre-channel adapters, a key segment of networking electronics.
Fibre-channel adapters connect storage equipment to servers to increase capacity, allow data back-up and improve data-access performance. QLogic held nearly 58% of the market, up 3% from the prior quarter, according to new data provided by Redwood City-based market tracker Dell’Oro Group Inc.
Emulex had almost 38% of the fibre-channel adapter market, down nearly 3% from the fourth quarter. San Jose-based Brocade Communica-tions Systems Inc. was a distant third with less than 3%.
Global sales for the segment fell 13% in the March quarter to $160 million. QLogic had $92.2 million of the total, followed by Emulex with $60 million.
The fourth quarter typically is the strongest quarter in the fibre-channel adapter market. Emulex typically loses share in the first and third quarters, while gaining in the other quarters due to stronger sales to its largest customer, IBM Corp. in New York.
Emulex posted stronger growth than QLogic in an emerging segment involving fibre channel over Ethernet, and that may have cut into fibre-channel sales, Dell’Oro analyst Sameh Boujelbene said. Fibre channel over Ethernet allows users to run both Ethernet and fibre-channel traffic over the same port or link.
QLogic and Emulex have one of the county’s oldest rivalries, dating to when Emulex spun off QLogic in the early 1990s. The rivals face stiff competition from a widening number of other companies, amid a shift from fibre-channel to Ethernet-based technology.
A growing market involving 10-gigabit Ethernet networks represents the next battlefield. Demand for capacity is expected to surge with the rise of virtual data centers and cloud computing.
Iris Honors
Ed O’Rourke, the founder and chief executive of Irvine-based Iris Technology Corp., was recognized by the White House last month for his work on renewable energy and its influence on military operations.
The physicist was one of nine honored as a Champion of Change, part of President Barack Obama’s Winning the Future initiative, which highlights a different sector each week for serving and strengthening their communities.
O’Rourke said he was at a loss for words during the event, as high-ranking military officials lauded his work and the company’s line of products that convert solar energy into power sources for vehicles, communications equipment, battery chargers and other devices.
“It was a humbling thing and “just an extraordinary day for me,” he said. “We’re really saving energy, saving money and saving lives.”
More than 2,000 Iris products are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, O’Rourke said.
He was nominated by Kate Brandt, special adviser for energy to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, and was selected from a field of more than 200 nominees.
Iris has maintained its headquarters in Irvine since its inception in 1986. All of its 400-plus products are designed and tested here.
The company also designs parts and components for space systems built by Raytheon Corp., Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and other aerospace and military contractors.
MEDL Funding
Fountain Valley startup MEDL Mobile Holdings Inc., which has developed apps for the likes of actress Marline Matlin, Cheech and Chong and mixed martial arts fighter “Rampage” Jackson, has raised $1.5 million in a second funding round.
The proceeds will fund general operations and expansion, spokesperson Chris Scuro said.
“We’ve greatly increased our development staff and our customer business is growing rapidly,” Scuro said.
The company employs about 60 people—doubling its work force in recent months—and is looking to hire iPhone, Android and Web developers as it prepares to roll out a recommendation engine for app enthusiasts. The engine will help organize and structure the vast array of apps available for mobile phone and tablet users.
In February it acquired Inedible Software LLC, a San Francisco-based software developer that has seen more than 13 million users download its motion-activated apps.
MEDL Mobile was founded in 2008 and has raised $4 million to date from angel investors and its founders.
The company’s shares are traded on the low-profile Pink Sheets. It lost $1.7 million on $2.2 million in sales in 2011.
