Top 10 Best-Read Stories of 2006

No. 10: Andiamo Vets Go 'Nuova'. Inquiring minds are eager to know what's become of the execs who founded Andiamo, the spin-in that eventually became Cisco's storage division. Stay tuned for updates on the status of Nuova, the startup being launched by Mario Mazzola, Luca Cafiero, Prem Jain, and Soni Jiandani.

No. 9: Brocade Bags McData For $713M. Brocade's big buy has reshaped the storage switch market, even though the jury's out on how well McData products will survive long term. We expect ongoing ripples from this event in 2007.

No. 8: Storage Networking's Heaviest Hitters. The first Byte and Switch list of top storage influences was a big draw. Look for a fresh list of players next year.

No. 7: Top Ten Private Companies: Spring 2006. Our Spring Top 10 Private Companies list was a hit, even though we subsequently chose not to update it for a while. Watch for a new one in 2007, especially since two of our Top Tenners have gone public, one is on the verge, and one has been acquired. (See HDS, BlueArc in Big NAS Deal, Double-Take, Isilon Go Public, Riverbed Comes Out at $9.75, Mellanox Ready for IPO , and Symantec Swallows Revivio.)

No. 6: NetApp: We're OK. Rumors of revenue slippage at NetApp were met by assurances that all was sunny in Sunnyvale, after Wall Street analysts pressured the vendor to come clean about inventory pileups. Of such wisps are market trends made.

No. 5: Storage Shopping Spree. A day when more than $125 million changes hands is memorable in any industry, but a trio of same-day deals announced in July was merely the tip of a storage consolidation iceberg that continues to grow.

No. 4: Pixar. Just another upgrade story? Not when the customer is a huge Hollywood production company, and the impetus is one of the year's biggest movies!

No. 3: EMC Secures RSA for $2.1B. News that EMC spent $2.1 billion to buy RSA drew a mixed response. Many customers liked the idea, but the price has yet to convince some sour-faced investors. (See Did EMC Overpay?)

No. 2: Reyes Charged With Fraud. Storage sales may not be affected by a vendor's involvement in regulatory trouble, but everybody watches anyway. When Greg Reyes, ex-CEO of Brocade, was charged with fraud this summer, it was big news. The outcome will no doubt be just as closely monitored.

No. 1: Top 10 Startups to Watch. Our top 10 list of hot startups to watch attracted more readers than any other article. We plan to update it soon. If you've got suggestions, email them to us at [email protected].