Brocade Announces FABRIC 2000, Industry's First Open Framework for
Storage Area Networking
Market Leaders Back Products and Solutions Initiative for $11.4 Billion SAN Market
SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., (BROCADE(R)) the leading
supplier and pioneer of Fibre Channel Fabric switches for Storage Area Networking (SAN) announced today
FABRIC 2000(TM), the company's strategic framework to maintain an open, standards-based approach for
storage area networks. FABRIC 2000 is BROCADE's commitment to delivering superior scalable technology
and to work with industry-leading partners to support a migration path for all SAN connectivity options to
implement a wide range of SAN application requirements-from data backup to storage consolidation to disaster
recovery. With 84 percent market share, BROCADE's Fibre Channel switches are the foundation of the
worldwide storage area networking market, which International Data Corporation estimates will reach $11.4
billion by 2002.
Leading storage solution market leaders join BROCADE in support of the FABRIC 2000 initiative, including CNT,
Emulex, Legato Systems, Network Appliance, Inc., QLogic, Sequent Computer, StorageTek, and VERITAS.
"FABRIC 2000 raises the bar for data center solutions: defining the highest-quality products and services to
provide a complete solution for all storage area networking needs, from the workgroup to the enterprise," said
Greg Reyes, BROCADE president and CEO. "BROCADE is the pioneer of Fibre Channel Switch Fabrics, which
are the backbone of reliable, scalable, and manageable SANs. The FABRIC 2000 roadmap continues our
leadership in SAN-enabling technology and, through our strategic partners, will deliver new and innovative SAN
applications to market."
"For companies to realize the benefits of SANs, there must be standards as well as support for SANs in
heterogeneous, distributed environments," said Mark Knittel, vice president of marketing and business
development at Computer Network Technology. "With the BROCADE FABRIC 2000 framework, CNT delivers
connectivity solutions to multi-platform SAN environments over local- and wide-area networks. Now, customers
finally have an open, standards-based approach for successfully implementing SANs."
"Storage area networking is the preferred architecture for successfully implementing data-intensive and mission
critical applications in the enterprise IT environment. Fibre Channel is the enabling technology for SANs due to
its gigabit speeds, high reliability, and connectivity over long distances," stated Mike Smith, senior director of
Fibre Channel Marketing for Emulex. "FABRIC 2000 is designed to provide key integration and operability
support to SAN end users. Emulex is pleased that our industry-leading PCI host bus adapters and digital hubs
are important components of the SAN and, therefore, included in BROCADE's new initiative."
"Legato Systems is pleased to work with BROCADE to develop interoperable, standards-based solutions under
the FABRIC 2000 framework," said Nora M. Denzel, senior vice president at Legato Systems, Inc. "Legato's
products are designed to help customers realize the Information Utility, where data is always protected, always
available, and easily managed. We look forward to driving the evolution of SANs, in partnership with BROCADE,
to achieve the Information Utility."
"As the leader in storage networking, Network Appliance supports the central vision of the BROCADE FABRIC
2000 initiative: the creation of an open framework for developing SANs," said Charlie Simmons, vice president of
marketing for Network Appliance. "By its very nature, network attached storage (NAS) provides standards-based
information sharing. The FABRIC 2000 framework provides an open standards-based approach for connecting
large numbers of storage devices to NAS, as well as implementing efficient data paths for backup and disaster
recovery."
"The reliable and high-performance delivery of data between end-nodes in a SAN is critical to the adoption of
SAN applications," said Mark Edwards, vice president, sales and corporate marketing, for QLogic. "As the
leading designer and supplier of SAN data delivery products, QLogic is uniquely positioned to deliver solutions
for all SAN connected end-nodes, including disk, tape, libraries, workstations and systems. QLogic is pleased
to support BROCADE's FABRIC 2000 framework which provides end-users with the confidence they require to
install standards-based SAN networks and Fibre Channel solutions."
"Sequent has worked with BROCADE to deliver the industry's first Fibre Channel fabric and true SAN
environments utilizing BROCADE's innovative SilkWorm switches and our NUMA-Q server and OS multi-pathing
technologies. BROCADE's FABRIC 2000 framework and product roadmap demonstrates continued leadership.
Sequent is leveraging BROCADE's expertise in the design of next generation NUMA-Q and NUMACenter
systems," said Jeff Pancottine, vice president of global marketing for Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
"StorageTek's strategic partnership with BROCADE has certainly benefited our customers," said Craig Warren,
director of marketing for StorageTek's Storage Networking Business Group. "Our Virtual Intelligent Storage
Architecture (VISTA) supports open, intelligent, and integrated storage solutions and BROCADE's FABRIC 2000
framework is consistent with that approach. We will work with BROCADE to promote the rapid acceptance of
open standards for storage networking and the integration of intelligence into the network fabric. Together we
will help our customers apply SAN solutions to their most pressing business needs."
"VERITAS storage management solutions help enterprises optimize the availability and performance of
business-critical information, while reducing the cost of management. The reliability and scalability offered by
storage network architectures allow us to offer our users new levels of business continuity. Initiatives such as
BROCADE FABRIC 2000 accelerate the SAN adoption rate by promoting standards-based, ready-to-run
solutions that meet business requirements. These solutions will help eliminate operational discontinuity and
build business advantage," said Roger Klorese, senior product manager, Storage Network Products, VERITAS
Software.
The basis of FABRIC 2000 is BROCADE's standards-based Fibre Channel fabric switches and strategic
partnerships to leverage complementary storage solutions, such as network attached storage and
disaster-tolerant SANs over wide area networks. Announced in conjunction with FABRIC 2000 is the BROCADE
SOLUTIONware program, the industry's first initiative to reduce the cost and complexity of SAN deployment
through certified SAN configuration and testing guidelines.
FABRIC 2000 Highlights
FABRIC 2000 is a four-cornered approach which includes: standards-based technology and a migration path for
all connectivity options; a set of industry leading products and services delivered by BROCADE and its partners;
reliable, manageable, and scalable SAN applications; and partnerships with industry leaders to further the
deployment of SANs.
FABRIC 2000 highlights are:
-- A commitment to standards-based technology. BROCADE's solutions are the only full-fabric, standards-based
solutions for Fibre Channel connectivity. Designed to support all SAN topologies, BROCADE's open solutions
provide customers with a full migration path from single-switch workgroup configurations through to full scale,
fully-meshed enterprise SANs. As the pioneer of Fibre Channel switches, BROCADE has been a primary
contributor to every major Fibre Channel standard.
-- World-leading products and services. Through its SilkWorm family of Fibre Channel fabric switches,
BROCADE offers a unique solution for SAN connectivity. BROCADE Web Tools, zoning, and SCSI 3 Enclosure
Services are tools to ensure easy SAN management. Combined with a unique, sophisticated Fabric operating
system, named Fabric OS(TM), BROCADE switches deliver industry-first routing technology which provides
multiple paths through the fabric for fault tolerance; and embedded, distributed intelligence to enable reliability.
Through the distributed Fabric OS, BROCADE switches offer easy installation, distributed diagnostics,
knowledge of topology, and knowledge of resources connected to the SAN.
-- A foundation for reliable, manageable SAN applications, from back-up and restore to storage consolidation to
disaster recovery. BROCADE enables the most reliable server connectivity and storage management through
partnerships with VERITAS, Legato, QLogic, and Emulex. Through a new partnership with CNT, BROCADE will
bring the first disaster-tolerant SANs to wide area networks. A recent partnership with Network Appliance will
deliver on the promise of interoperability between SANs and network attached storage (NAS) to provide remote
connectivity, scalability and management for NAS applications. For its integrator partners, BROCADE offers
SOLUTIONware, the first "how to manuals" to automate SAN deployment, reducing time to market by more than
30 percent.
-- Strategic partnerships with market leaders to bring scalable SAN solutions to the market. BROCADE is the
number one supplier of fibre channel switches worldwide to Compaq Computer, McDATA Corporation,
MountainGate, Network Appliance, Sequent, and StorageTek.
About BROCADE Communications Systems, Inc.
BROCADE is the leading supplier of Fibre Channel fabric solutions, which provide the intelligent backbone for
Storage Area Networks (SANs). According to International Data Corporation, BROCADE supplies 84 percent of
the Fibre Channel switches in use at corporate data centers worldwide. BROCADE manufactures and markets
the SilkWorm(R) family of Fibre Channel switches and SAN management software to optimize data availability in
the storage enterprise. Using BROCADE solutions, companies can simplify the implementation of Storage Area
Networks, reduce the total cost of ownership of data storage environments, and improve network and
application efficiency and performance.
Founded in 1995, BROCADE is a privately held company. The company's headquarters is at 1901 Guadalupe
Parkway, San Jose, CA 95131. Visit BROCADE at brocade.com, or contact the company at
info@brocade.com.
BROCADE, SilkWorm, SilkWorm Express and FABRIC 2000 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.
SOURCE Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
/CONTACT: Jennifer Hart, Trainer Public Relations, 415-440-2208,
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