Further emphasizing its new identity as a data-center networking company, Brocade announced Friday that it's selling its network adapter business to QLogic for an undisclosed sum. This Brocade data-center focus further emphasizes Brocade SDN and NFV strategy.

Financial analysts will probably be indifferent to the news, not because it came on Friday afternoon, but because Brocade has been saying it's going to divest certain businesses. Since at least September, its revenue projections have included an $80 million gap created by divestitures yet to come. CEO Lloyd Carney reiterated that point in a November interview with The Street.

Cost-cutting in general was among Brocade's priorities in late 2013. The company had pledged to cut its spending by $100 million per year; officials claimed in November that they'd achieved that goal, two quarters ahead of schedule.

Brocade's bigger-picture plan is to focus mostly on data-center networking. That means a heavier emphasis on network fabrics and software-defined networking (SDN) — areas tied to the acquisitions of Foundry Networks and Vyatta — and less of a role for things like, you know, network adapters.

The stuff being divested includes products such as fabric adapters and Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs).