How Inrange presents the extended deal
gsnetworks.com
INRANGE TECHNOLOGIES ACCELERATES DEVELOPMENT OF FIBRE CHANNEL SOLUTIONS FOR THE DATA CENTER
INRANGE enters into agreement to incorporate Ancor Communications technologies to speed development of Fibre Channel capabilities for its CD/9000™ Channel Director and other broadband products.
MOUNT LAUREL, NEW JERSEY, October 27, 1998 -- INRANGETM Technologies Corporation, formerly General Signal Networks, a worldwide provider of data center networking connectivity technology, today announced plans to accelerate development of Fibre Channel products. Over the next eighteen months, INRANGE will, under a licensing agreement with Ancor Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANCR), incorporate Ancor's state-of-the-art, proven Fibre Channel technology in the CD/9000 Channel Director. INRANGE will extend its use of Ancor's technology within other Fibre Channel-based products that the company will be developing, addressing the ever-increasing needs of its customers for high-speed switching, data center networking, and enterprise-class connectivity.
The CD/9000 Channel Director, which provides dynamic linking between ESCON hosts and peripherals, is already a superior solution for managing ESCON® data center environments. Today's announcement, however, assures more rapid development and delivery of Fibre Channel system features that were outlined in the company's CD/9000 product development roadmap release. As suggested in the forward-looking roadmap announcement that was released on August 11, 1998, INRANGE will address Fibre Channel with a number of industry-leading capabilities that will exceed the requirements of data centers and Storage Area Networks (SANs).
"In our earlier announcement, INRANGE affirmed its commitment to delivering advanced capabilities for data centers, including, of course, Fibre Channel," said Jayne Fitzgerald, vice president and general manager, INRANGE Technologies Corporation.
"The agreement to license and incorporate Ancor's Fibre Channel technology in the CD/9000 is only a first step. We plan to deliver Fibre Channel capabilities across a range of solutions over the next year and a half. Each will offer exceptional performance and value that our customers have come to expect," Fitzgerald concluded.
"Fibre Channel is an emerging technology that promises gigabit performance improvements for the data center," said David Supinski, vice president of marketing. "However, like any evolution in technology, customers need to gain experience and confidence in Fibre Channel. It's unlikely that they will discard ESCON outright in a costly, wholesale transition, preferring instead to migrate gracefully to Fibre Channel. Our plans for the CD/9000 obviate the need for separate investments in parallel Fibre Channel switching solutions. The CD/9000 will ultimately serve as a unified platform for managing all data center connectivity, from ESCON, to FICON, to Fibre Channel. Bringing Fibre Channel on line will literally be as easy as installing a few interface cards in an existing CD/9000. It will really be that simple."
"This strategic agreement with INRANGE Technologies demonstrates the value of Ancor's expertise in the demanding high end of the data center market," said Ken Hendrickson, CEO, Ancor Communications. "INRANGE's success with ESCON Directors and other data center management systems, coupled with our high-performance Fibre Channel switch technology, assures solutions that will be the best in their class."
Ancor Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANCR) provides GigWorks™ high-performance storage and data-intensive network solutions based on Fibre Channel technology. The company was the first to deliver a Fibre Channel switch, and the first to top the one-gigabit performance level. Ancor is a member of the Fibre Channel Association, the Storage Network Industry Association, the ANSI Standards Committee and the University of New Hampshire Fibre Channel Consortium to promote the advancement of Fibre Channel standards and interoperability. Information on Ancor is available on the World Wide Web at www.ancor.com.
INRANGE Technologies Corporation, an SPX company, is a provider of matrix switches for wide area networks; channel switches and channel extension products for copper- and ESCON-based mainframes and SCSI- and PCI-based servers; fiber management systems; and performance monitoring and test systems for digital and analog networks. Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, INRANGE Technologies has 1000 employees at manufacturing locations in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and sales and support offices in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
SPX Corporation is a global provider of industrial and vehicle solutions including process and electrical controls, network technologies, service solutions to franchised vehicle dealers, and components and service support to vehicle manufacturers. The Internet address for SPX Corporation's home page is www.spx.com. |
