*Extra* The Game Doesn't Go Ancor's Way, So Ancor Changes It

When I first saw the news that Ancor Communications (ANCR Quote) had struck a deal with Intel (INTC Quote) to develop new switches based on a new type of architecture called InfiniBand, it was pretty clear that in the short term, at least, it was game over for the short-sellers. (So much for my prediction on the TSC show on Fox News Channel that the new spelling of Ancor should be A-n-c-h-o-r.) Then, after reading the company's press release and a subsequent report by chief table-pounder Ashok Kumar from Piper Jaffray, I realized that the reason so many Ancor-anatics have been so revved up over this company no longer existed.

Ancor, you may recall, has been in a bitter battle with industry leader Brocade (BRCD Quote) in the market for fiber channel networking switches. Ancor-anatics sent themselves into a near frenzy several months ago over news that Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote) had agreed to buy switches from Ancor. That created a wave of rumors that Ancor was about to win every other major switch order out there, and that it deserved to trade at Brocade's $7.4 billion market cap. (Ancor's market cap is about $2.1 billion. Never mind that some think the share price of Brocade, itself, is lost in space.) ...