Brocade Expands Relationship with Sun to Offer Customers Comprehensive Range
Of Intelligent Storage Networking Infrastructure
Brocade Products Now Available with Premier Portfolio of Sun Storage
And Server Platforms Worldwide
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brocade Communications
Systems, Inc. (Brocade(R)) (NASDAQ:BRCD), the world's leading provider of
infrastructure solutions for Storage Area Networks (SANs), announced today an
expansion of its reseller agreement with Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW).
Under terms of the agreement, Sun will now make Brocade SilkWorm(R) Fibre
Channel fabric switches available through its reseller and direct sales
channels worldwide. Sun will now offer and support the Brocade SilkWorm 3200
8-port Entry Fabric Switch as an intelligent SAN building block for small and
medium businesses and for enterprises implementing departmental and workgroup
SANs. In addition to the SilkWorm 3200, Sun offers the Brocade SilkWorm 12000
Core Fabric Switch and SilkWorm 3800 16-port Enterprise Fabric Switch.
Brocade will be sold and supported by Sun worldwide as stand-alone products
and as part of a Sun-supported SAN or storage configurations.
Sun provides technical support and service for all of the Brocade SilkWorm
fabric switches it offers through the Sun worldwide support and service
organization. In addition, the company provides consulting services for
customers to architect and implement open SANs using Brocade switches,
offering customers greater choice and flexibility in SAN design.
Sun unlocks the intelligence in the fabric, using the Brocade Fabric
Access API, to deliver enhanced management of Brocade fabric switches through
storage management applications, including Sun StorEdge(TM) Enterprise Storage
Management software. This software is the unifying user interface and central
management console that allows integrated launch capabilities for storage
management tools. Sun StorEdge Enterprise Storage Management software
provides automatic discovery and mapping of devices, as well as fabric
management for managed storage networks. Sun has developed its management
software based on the Common Information Model (CIM), and Brocade's commitment
to CIM-based management complements Sun's open storage management model.
"We are pleased to continue to grow our partnership with Brocade, as we
both remain committed to providing our customers with best in class solutions
based on open standards," said Kathleen Holmgren, Vice President Network
Storage, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Because of Sun's open SAN architecture, it is
easy to add Brocade's proven switching technology, offering our customers even
greater choice in SAN design."
"With this expanded partnership, Brocade and Sun will work together to
provide SAN products and solution stacks that will be available through Sun in
more than 100 countries around the world," said Jay Kidd, Brocade Vice
President of Product Marketing. "Because management of these environments is a
critical customer requirement, we are working, through our open API, to help
simplify the delivery of feature-rich data management, movement, and
administration applications from partners like Sun that can take full
advantage of the intelligent features of the Brocade storage networking |
