Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX), a leader in network connectivity, monitoring and management, announced the results of a study of 547 U.S. and European-based network and security operations (NetOps and SecOps) professionals, which found that 45% of IT staffs monitor network and application performance manually, instead of implementing proven network monitoring tools. The study, which was conducted during the spring of 2014, also found that 77% of respondents have reported the root cause of a network or security event to their executive team that turned out to be incorrect. Overall, 73% of surveyed IT staff said they currently have unresolved network events.

Read the full executive summary report here. Download the infographic here. Other key findings from the survey:

Attribution Often Incorrect

  • 79% of the surveyed organizations have experienced network events that were attributed to the wrong IT group. (Tweet this)
  • 87% of respondents said that, at least once, they had to report the root cause of a network or security issue to their management but found that they didn’t have the information required to be 100% accurate in their assessment.
  • More than one-third (39%) said this has happened at least a few times.

Security Events on the Rise

  • 83% of respondents said there has been an increase in the number of security events they have investigated in the past year. (Tweet this)
  • 81% of SecOps respondents indicated that their organization has experienced a network security breach.
  • 27% of breaches were discovered without the use of alerting tools, through manual searches and user reporting.

Growing Mobility Demands

  • 84% of respondents said their organization has implemented a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative
  • 26% of European respondents said they have no plans to monitor the network for performance issues related to BYOD. When combined with the fact that 45% of organizations are manually monitoring the performance of their networks, the growing amount of mobile device-generated traffic is on pace to overwhelm enterprise networks.

Downtime Hugely Impactful

  • 70% of NetOps respondents indicated that they have had a critical network event that took at least one full business day to diagnose.
  • More than half of U.S. respondents (52%) said it costs their organization more than half a million dollars in revenue per hour when they have a network outage or performance degradation. (Tweet this)

Executive Commentary

“IT is facing new challenges related to the growing use of software-defined networking, virtualization and higher performing networks, as well as increasingly more sophisticated attacks on company IT assets,” said Shaun Walsh, senior vice president of marketing, Emulex. “The clear message from this survey is that one of the best tools for SecOps and NetOps professionals to have at their disposal is 100 percent network visibility that is tied to their detection management systems. It’s the combination of proactive management and the ability to do forensic analysis that will give these IT professionals the right tools to maximize application delivery, protect their corporate assets and avoid the IT blame game.”

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About Emulex

Emulex, a leader in network connectivity, monitoring and management, provides hardware and software solutions for global networks that support enterprise, cloud, government and telecommunications. Emulex’s products enable unrivaled end-to-end application visibility, optimization and acceleration. The Company's I/O connectivity offerings, including its line of ultra high-performance Ethernet and Fibre Channel-based connectivity products, have been designed into server and storage solutions from leading OEMs, including Cisco, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, IBM, NetApp and Oracle, and can be found in the data centers of nearly all of the Fortune 1000. Emulex’s monitoring and management solutions, including its portfolio of network visibility and recording products, provide organizations with complete network performance management at speeds up to 100Gb Ethernet. Emulex is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. For more information about Emulex (NYSE:ELX) please visit http://www.Emulex.com.

“Safe Harbor” Statement

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above, contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or changes to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances. We wish to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the possibility that all or a substantial portion of the cost savings targeted by us will not be realized on a timely basis or at all even though we expect to incur charges relating to the cost saving initiative and that the share repurchases implemented by us may not be completed in whole or in part or within the expected timeframe. The assumptions on which the cost savings, share repurchase and capital return goals and expectations are based necessarily involve judgments with respect to, among other things, economic, competitive and financial market conditions and the impact of the cost savings initiative on our customers, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict and many of which are beyond the Company’s control. Furthermore, our proposed changes to the membership of our board of directors may not have the desired effect in helping us achieve and implement our business and strategic goals. These factors also include the possibility that we may not realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition of Endace Limited on a timely basis or at all, and may be unable to integrate the technology, operations and personnel of Endace into our existing operations in a timely and efficient manner. In addition, intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could result in costly litigation, cause product shipment delays, require us to indemnify customers, or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements, which may or may not be available. Furthermore, we have in the past obtained, and may be required in the future to obtain, licenses of technology owned by other parties. We cannot be certain that the necessary licenses will be available or that they will be obtainable on commercially reasonable terms. If we were to fail to obtain such royalty or licensing agreements in a timely manner and on reasonable terms, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Lawsuits present inherent risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Such potential risks include continuing expenses of litigation, loss of patent rights, monetary damages, injunctions against the sale of products incorporating the technology in question, counterclaims, attorneys’ fees, incremental costs associated with product or component redesigns, liabilities to customers under reimbursement agreements or contractual indemnification provisions, and diversion of management’s attention from other business matters. In addition, the fact that the economy generally, and the network connectivity and visibility market segments specifically, have been in a state of uncertainty makes it difficult to determine if past experience is a good guide to the future and makes it impossible to determine if markets will grow or shrink in the short term. Continued weakness in domestic and worldwide macro-economic conditions, related disruptions in world credit and equity markets, and the resulting economic uncertainty for our customers, as well as the overall network connectivity and visibility markets, has and could continue to adversely affect our revenues and results of operations. As a result of these uncertainties, we are unable to predict our future results with any accuracy. Other factors affecting these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: faster than anticipated declines in the storage networking market, slower than expected growth of the converged networking market or the failure of our Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers to successfully incorporate our products into their systems; our dependence on a limited number of customers and the effects of the loss of, decrease in or delays of orders by any such customers, or the failure of such customers to make timely payments; the emergence of new or stronger competitors as a result of consolidation movements in the market; the timing and market acceptance of our products or our OEM customers’ new or enhanced products; costs associated with entry into new areas of the network connectivity and visibility markets; the variability in the level of our backlog and the variable and seasonal procurement patterns of our customers; any inadequacy of our intellectual property protection and the costs of actual or potential third-party claims of infringement and any related indemnity obligations or adverse judgments; the effect of any actual or potential unsolicited offers to acquire us; proxy contests or the activities of activist investors; impairment charges, including but not limited to goodwill and intangible assets; changes in tax rates or legislation; the effects of acquisitions; the effects of terrorist activities, natural disasters, and any resulting disruption in our supply chain or customer purchasing patterns or any other resulting economic or political instability; the highly competitive nature of the markets for our products as well as pricing pressures that may result from such competitive conditions; the effect of rapid migration of customers towards newer, lower cost product platforms; transitions from board or box level to application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions for selected applications; a shift in unit product mix from higher-end to lower-end or mezzanine card products; a faster than anticipated decrease in the average unit selling prices or an increase in the manufactured cost of our products; delays in product development; our reliance on third-party suppliers and subcontractors for components and assembly; our ability to attract and retain key technical personnel; our ability to benefit from our research and development activities as well as government grants related thereto; our dependence on international sales and internationally produced products; changes in accounting standards; and any resulting regulatory changes on our business. These and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, under the caption “Risk Factors.”

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