Brocade/Cisco article 6/13/00 (Rambus used by Brocade. See my previous posts)
Tuesday June 13, 9:07 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Cisco and Brocade Enter Joint Technology Agreement
to Interconnect Storage Area Networks Over IP-Based
Metropolitan and Wide Area Networks
Companies to Connect BROCADE SilkWorm Fibre Channel Switches and Cisco Catalyst 6000
Multilayer IP Switches
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2000-- Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), the leader in networking
for the Internet, and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (BROCADE©) (Nasdaq:BRCD - news), the leading supplier of
Fibre Channel fabric solutions for Storage Area Networking, announced today a multi-phased technology development agreement
that will enable customers to seamlessly interconnect SANs (storage area networks) over Internet protocol (IP)-based
metropolitan and wide area network infrastructures.
The Cisco/BROCADE agreement will facilitate the interconnection of islands of SANs over IP-based metropolitan area network
(MAN) and wide area network (WAN) infrastructures. It will enable the deployment of high-performance SANs spanning
multiple remote physical locations and make possible new types of SAN applications that previously could not be implemented
over long distances, including disaster recovery, remote data replication, remote data backup, and digital content distribution.
In the first phase of the multi-phase technology agreement, the two companies will jointly develop a Fibre Channel interface for
Cisco's Catalyst 6000© family of high-performance multilayer switches. In addition, BROCADE and Cisco will certify the
interoperability between BROCADE SilkWorm© Fibre Channel fabric switches with Cisco dense wavelength division multiplexing
(DWDM) products, which will enable SAN-to-SAN connectivity over high-speed fiber optic MANs.
Cisco and BROCADE have also agreed to develop additional switch-to-switch connection products in the future to further expand
customers' options for connecting BROCADE Fibre Channel-based SANs across Cisco networking infrastructures, supporting a
variety of high-speed network interfaces. All products resulting from this agreement will be compliant with ANSI T11 standards.
``More and more of our traditional enterprise customers are realizing the tremendous advantages afforded by adopting e-business
strategies -- a business model that dramatically increases their need to store, protect and quickly access vast amounts of electronic
data,'' said James Richardson, senior vice president of Cisco's Enterprise Line of Business. ``Our open, standards-based model has
allowed us to extend the Cisco end-to-end networking reach to SANs, which in turn provides our customers with both investment
protection and agility to quickly deploy emerging network business solutions. An example of this ability, the results of our
relationship with BROCADE will enable our mutual customers to optimize their existing IP-based networking infrastructure to
interconnect high performance, Fibre Channel-based SANs across the enterprise.''
``BROCADE Fibre Channel fabric switches are the industry's networking foundation of choice to support the data-intensive
requirements of storage area networks,'' said Greg Reyes, BROCADE president and CEO. ``This agreement will result in
products that will provide seamless connectivity of BROCADE-based SANs over Cisco's networking infrastructure and offer our
customers with the best of both worlds: a high performance foundation for storage applications and the ability to interconnect them
across their existing MAN/WAN infrastructure. Through this technology agreement, we expect to offer the widest array of
options for our customers to interconnect islands of SANs. We believe that the results of this relationship will enable the
development of new classes of applications and service offerings.''
``As the SAN market leader, Compaq is excited to work with both Cisco and BROCADE to bring this extended SAN capability to
market. It will enable us to bring important new business solutions to our customers,'' said Howard Elias, Vice President &
General Manager, Compaq Storage Products Group. ``For example, remote data replication will allow our dot.com customers to
efficiently distribute web content worldwide for better Internet response time, and remote disaster recovery will enable storage
service providers to deliver higher service levels to their client base.''
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are
available at cisco.com
About Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
BROCADE (Nasdaq:BRCD - news) is the leading supplier of open, standards-based Fibre Channel fabric solutions that provide
the intelligent backbone for Storage Area Networks (SANs). For more information, visit the BROCADE website at
www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.
Notes to Editors: Cisco, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their
respective owners.
BROCADE, SilkWorm, SilkWorm Express, Fabric Integrator, Fabric OS, Fabric Weaver, and QuickLoop are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems Incorporated, in the United States and/or in 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.
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