Weak Sun sales cast cloud on JNI revenue forecast

The company said Wednesday that its revenue will increase between 9 percent and 12 percent to about $20 million to $21 million for the first quarter of 2000, for earnings per share of 3 cents to 4 cents. Analysts surveyed by First Call expected earnings of 14 cents per share. The company is expected to report earnings the week of April 23.

JNI makes cards that let servers attach to high-end data storage networks using the Fibre Channel communication technology. Customers using Sun servers are its biggest revenue source.

"With the majority of our revenues derived from sales of Sun Solaris-based products, continued weakness in the Sun server marketplace has had an impact on first-quarter performance," JNI Chief Executive Neal Waddington said in a statement.

Sun itself warned in February that revenue growth of 10 percent to 13 percent would result in lower-than-expected profits. Its chief products are servers, the workhorses of the Internet and corporate computer networks.

JNI, based in San Diego, held its initial public offering in October 1999.