13/10-05   -   Pressmeddelande

Wien IT builds on FICON SAN Directors from Brocade

SilkWorm 24000 Directors form the Bridge between Storage Environments

SAN JOSE, Calif. — October 12, 2005 — Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade®) (Nasdaq: BRCDE) today announced that Wien IT EDV Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH has standardized on FICON® Storage Area Network (SAN) directors from Brocade in the mainframe and open systems sector. The IT service provider is responsible for the municipal services in Vienna (encompassing the city’s entire supply system and energy network), and was able to increase the performance of its SAN by migrating existing ESCON channels to FICON connections and deploying Brocade SilkWorm® 24000 directors as part of a classic core-to-edge design. As a result, Brocade has helped Wien IT achieve the high availability, performance, and investment protection it requires in both FICON and Fibre Channel environments.

In order to manage increasing data volumes more efficiently, Wien IT decided to migrate its existing ESCON connections to FICON, a necessary approach for operating in intermixed mode (for both the mainframe and open systems areas). FICON connections between the mainframes and storage systems have delivered higher data transfer rates and faster response times, thereby increasing overall business efficiency. As part of this transition, Wien IT used additional ports to consolidate existing storage systems. During the phased rollout, Wien IT upgraded its infrastructure to a dual-fabric SAN distributed across two locations and connected via Dense Wave Division Multiplexer (DWDM) Fibre Channel technology. By standardizing on Brocade directors, the organization has significantly reduced its administration costs and is now able to focus its resources on a wider range of projects.

“We could only fulfil the requirements, in terms of the bandwidth available to the storage subsystems and in terms of storage consolidation, with SAN technology," said Gerhard Wasinger, member of the management team at Wien IT. “As far as we are aware, Wien IT is one of the first companies in Austria to implement a consolidated Fibre Channel/FICON infrastructure. Thanks to this solution, we have been able to reduce the headcount needed to manage the SAN and can now use our administrators in other areas of the business."

About Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brocade delivers industry-leading platforms and solutions for intelligently connecting, managing, and optimising IT resources in shared storage environments. Many of the world’s premier systems, server, and storage providers offer the Brocade SilkWorm family of fabric switches and software as the foundation for SAN solutions in organisations of all sizes. In addition, the Brocade Tapestry™ family of application infrastructure solutions extends the ability to manage and optimise application and information resources proactively across the enterprise. Using Brocade solutions, organisations are better positioned to reduce cost, manage complexity, and satisfy business compliance requirements through optimised use and management of their application infrastructures. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.

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Brocade, the Brocade B weave logo, Fabric OS, Secure Fabric OS, and SilkWorm are registered trademarks and Tapestry is a trademark 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., other countries, or both. 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.