Subj: Brocade Announces Partners Program to Qualify Products for Interoperability Wit
Date: 97-11-03 12:45:29 EST
From: AOL News
BCC: LongBow100
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1997--
Program Designed to Provide Integrators and End Users
With an Effective Toolset for Building a Complete
Switched Fabric Solution for the Server-Storage Network
Fibre Channel-industry leader Brocade Communications Systems Inc.
Monday announced its launch of the Brocade Partners Program.
The program will serve to provide the industry with a selection of
tested interoperable product choices when implementing a SilkWorm
Fibre Channel switched fabric.
''Brocade developed this program in direct response to the
increasing requests of our customers and integrators for a list of
Fibre Channel host bus adapter (HBA), hub, storage, router and
software suppliers that have been thoroughly tested for
interoperability with Brocade's SilkWorm,'' said Bruce Bergman,
president and chief executive officer of Brocade.
''Our customers have come to depend on us as a vital information
source within the Fibre Channel industry. This program further
demonstrates Brocade's market leadership as we address the needs of
integrators and end users, providing them not just with a switch but
with a completely tested fabric solution.''
Brocade Partners Program Benefits
The Brocade Partners Program offers a variety of benefits to those
suppliers that meet the requirements for becoming an official Brocade
partner. Most important, these companies will be included on the
approved partners list that Brocade's sales force will make available
to potential and current SilkWorm customers, integrators and end
users.
Additional benefits include:
-- inclusion in online catalog listing;
-- receipt of advanced release of Brocade firmware;
-- joint media-relations activities and opportunities, including
news releases, product reviews, etc.;
-- participation in a no-cost evaluation program; and
-- access to expanded testing environment beyond generic
interoperability testing.
''With a new high-performance technology like Fibre Channel,
end-user and integrator confidence in solution stability and
effective problem resolution is critical to large-scale acceptance,''
said Ed Frymoyer, president of emf Associates.
''The Brocade Partners Program not only takes interoperability
testing to a new level, but end users can feel confident that all of
Brocade's partners will have the discipline to stay engaged in best
practices. This will help to resolve problems and assure ongoing
interoperability as new products and software are released.''
Brocade Partners Program Requirements
The foundation of the Partners Program is a rigorous test bed,
developed by an independent testing laboratory, in which potential
partners can submit their products for testing. Brocade will
initiate the test bed during the first quarter of 1998.
To become a Brocade partner, Fibre Channel supplier products must
meet specific requirements, including: tested interoperability with
competitive products; interoperability certification from the
University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory; demonstrate
support for multiple protocols; and support for fabric login and ANSI
standard Simple Name Services.
In addition, to maintain a high level of interoperability, all
Brocade partners will be required to exchange with Brocade software
and hardware release levels, product changes, and bug lists and
fixes. Brocade will also request that partners identify internal
engineering and marketing resources so that communications and
benefits can be realized by all participants.
About Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade's primary focus is to help customers build gigabit Fibre
Channel fabrics, enabling them to optimize connections between data
storage and enterprise servers, and to design high-performance,
scalable data-center backbones.
Brocade has headquarters at 1901 Guadalupe Parkway in San Jose,
Calif. 95131. For more information about Brocade, check out the
company's Web site at brocadecomm.com or contact Brenda
Christensen, vice president, marketing, at 408/487-8123 or via e-mail
at info@brocadecomm.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS: SilkWorm is a trademark of Brocade Communications
Systems Inc.
-0-
Industry Support Quotes for Brocade's Partners Program
Ciprico
''We are excited to support Brocade's commitment and leadership to
ensure that interoperability is a top priority for the Fibre Channel
community in the coming year,'' said Bob Kill, president and chief
executive officer of Ciprico.
''This program promotes the importance of providing customers with
a stable, high-performance working environment, and we're pleased
others are following Brocade's and Ciprico's lead. Our mutual
efforts to demonstrate high-bandwidth network attached RAID storage
at NAB in April is now being used as the springboard for others as
they work towards interoperability with Brocade's switched fabric.''
CLARiiON
''One of the primary goals of CLARiiON is to meet the storage
needs of heterogeneous server environments,'' said Gary Wright,
director of solutions marketing for CLARiiON. ''By working with
Brocade, together we will be able to provide interoperable, highly
available storage solutions to end users who desire to use Fibre
Channel's high-bandwidth, long-distance connectivity across their
enterprise.''
Crossroads
''Crossroads is delighted to be invited to work with Brocade on
this important program,'' said Barbara Bardach, vice president of
business development for Crossroads Systems. ''This initiative
significantly accelerates our goal of extending Fibre Channel
interoperability to the broad world of SCSI through our CrossPoint
family of Storage Routers.''
Digital Equipment Corp.
''Brocade, with the introduction of its Partners Program, is
meeting the needs of end users by getting a Fibre Channel fabric
solution into the hands of integrators and IT managers faster than
anticipated,'' said Ellen Lary, vice president of Digital's Storage
Business Unit.
Emulex
''Emulex and Brocade have worked closely together to ensure
interoperability between Brocade's SilkWorm switch and the Emulex
LP6000 family of PCI Fibre Channel host bus adapters,'' said Mike
Kane, marketing director for Fibre Channel products at Emulex.
''We are very committed to industry interoperability efforts and
welcome the opportunity to participate in the Brocade Partners
Program for the benefit of our customers and users of Fibre Channel
technology.''
Interphase
''Interphase is a strong believer that Fibre Channel adapters must
provide multiprotocol support, and we have implemented this within
our own products which support both SCSI and IP traffic,'' said Don
Maulsbry, vice president of marketing for Interphase.
''Brocade has demonstrated this belief as well with the launch of
this program, which will provide customers with the ability to deploy
Fibre Channel in its most robust form, in a switched fabric.''
Jaycor
''We strongly endorse Brocade's Partners Program, as it
demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Fibre Channel community's
members to expand market demand via a suite of solutions that work
together efficiently,'' said Terry Flanagan, president of Jaycor
Networks Inc., a San Diego-based supplier of Fibre Channel hubs and
adapters.
''The program is also very important to us as a participant
because it reinforces our market position as a supplier of
high-speed, reliable and interoperable products.''
--30--DB/la* MT/la
CONTACT:
Miller/Shandwick Technologies
Sari Gallagher, 310/203-0550
sgallagher@miller.shandwick.com
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