Brocade didn’t have good news in its latest earnings call, announcing earnings of $23.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, as compared to $32 million in the same quarter in 2009.  It’s good news for competitors like Hewlett-Packard, which announced profits of $ 2.54 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010 and $2.41 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009, an increase of 8 percent.

“Fourth quarter revenue was up 10% in the Americas to $15.1 billion. Revenue was up 6% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and up 8% in Asia Pacific to $12.4 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively…Revenue from outside of the United States in the fourth quarter accounted for 64% of total HP revenue, with revenue in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) increasing 12% while accounting for 10% of total HP revenue.”

HPs stocks are also on the rise as Marketing Intelligence Center sources informed about increases of up to 50 percent due to the court case between HP and Oracle over SAP involving HP’s CEO Leo Apotheker.

Brocade’s sore news has overshadowed some of their recent product releases, namely the Brocate VDX 6720 Data Center Switches, presenting “customers with a tremendous opportunity to simplify, scale and easily manage their virtualized data center network, offering a next step for customers implementing the IT-as-a-Service model.”  This new solution offered by Brocade, that simplifies networks and increases scalability will determine lower costs and a greater demand from customers – a possible solution to the financial situation Brocade currently encounters.