17/05-05   -   Pressemeddelelse

Brocade Announces Integrated SAN Solution with HP Reducing Operating Costs and Complexity for Blade Environments

HP BladeSystem Is the Industry´s First Blade Server to Utilize 4 Gbit/sec Brocade SAN Connectivity to Deliver Leading Performance and Agility in the Data Center

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade) (Nasdaq: BRCD), the world´s leading provider of infrastructure solutions for Storage Area Networks (SANs), today announced a Brocade-designed, industry first high-performance 4 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel SAN switch for blade servers, is now available on HP BladeSystem solutions. The integrated offering provides customers with flexible and cost-effective SAN connectivity, and helps reduce operating costs in the data center.

Available for ordering now, the Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch for HP p-Class BladeSystem consolidates server and storage connectivity into a single, integrated architecture and brings the benefits of shared storage to a blade environment while significantly improving rack space optimization and dramatically reducing costs.

- We are very pleased to work with HP to help drive the integration of blade servers into the data center, enabling reductions in both acquisition and operating costs, said Tom Buiocchi, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Brocade.- The Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch for HP p-Class BladeSystem brings one more important building block to a flexible infrastructure that is optimized to provide more effective utilization and continuity.

The integrated Brocade 4 Gbit/sec switch module has eight internal Fibre Channel ports facing the eight dual server bays of the HP BladeSystem and four external-facing Fibre Channel ports to support enterprise storage and SAN fabric connectivity. The ports are auto-sensing, making the HP BladeSystem compatible with 1, 2, or 4 Gbit/sec data link speeds.

- Brocade and HP continue to address customer demand for a more efficient data center footprint by integrating Brocade switch modules into the HP BladeSystem, said John Enck, Vice President and Research Director, Gartner Research.- Clearly the companies providing solutions into this market today stand to benefit from its growth.

- In teaming with Brocade to bring the highest-performing embedded SAN blade to market, HP continues to drive innovation and offer customers leading technologies to help them become more agile as their business needs change, said Rick Becker, vice president and general manager, BladeSystem organization at HP.- Our leadership in delivering next-generation SAN connectivity to the blade server market is another step in HP´s commitment to simplify data center infrastructure and lower overall operating costs.

Pricing for the Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch for HP p-Class BladeSystem starts at $11,000. More information about HP BladeSystem products is available at www.hp.com/go/bladesystem.

About Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brocade offers the industry´s leading intelligent platform for networking storage. The world´s leading systems, applications, and storage vendors have selected Brocade to provide a networking foundation for their SAN solutions. The Brocade SilkWorm family of fabric switches and software is designed to optimize data availability and storage and server resources in the enterprise. Using Brocade solutions, companies can simplify SAN implementation, reduce the total cost of ownership of data storage environments, and improve network and application efficiency. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.

Brocade, the Brocade B weave logo, Fabric OS, Secure Fabric OS, and SilkWorm are registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. FICON is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.