With the waiting period under the US anti-trust Hart-Scott-Rodino Act also expired, Brocade said it now expects to close the merger before the end of the month.
Special meetings for Brocade and McData shareholders will be held on January 25. Subject to stockholder approval, the two companies expect to close the merger on January 29.
The merger will see Brocade double its share of the market for SAN switches and directors to around two-thirds, and will leave only one other major player in the market. For those reasons, there was a possibility that the FTC would block the deal on the grounds that it reduced competition.
But the FTC cleared the deal probably because the remaining big player that Brocade now has to face down is the juggernaut Cisco Systems Inc. Allowing Brocade and McData to merge will very likely help maintain competition, as it will create a viable long-term competitor to Cisco.
The merger is the culmination of a process of wagon circling among the SAN incumbents that began almost as soon as Cisco entered their market. Inrange Technologies Inc was bought by CNT Corp, and then CNT Corp was bought by McData – which by the middle of next week will have been bought by Brocade.
