As it continues to battle with Cisco  for market share, Brocade is rolling out a new entry-level Fibre Channel SAN switch . Dubbed Brocade 6505 Switch, the new product aims to boost customer choice and flexibility for data -center consolidation, expansion and refresh products.
In a move to simplify deployment and management , Brocade also added virtualization functionality between its adapters and switches. At the same time, Brocade announced IBM as its first OEM partner to offer 16 Gbps Fibre Channel embedded switches and adapters, as well as stand-alone network adapters, for its servers. The new solutions are available now.
Big Blue is making available a new Brocade custom embedded 16 Gbps SAN switch and mezzanine card for its recently announced IBM Flex System x240 Compute Node, a component of the new IBM PureSystems. Brocade stand-up 16 Gbps HBAs are now available for integration with IBM System x in rack and tower form factors.
Playing Storage Strengths
With this flurry of activity at Brocade, we asked switch industry watcher Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, to comment on the firm's strengths in this announcement. He told us this: Through all of Brocade's ups and downs, it's safe to say that Brocade remains a market leader on the storage switching side.
"Brocade is a best-in-class storage vendor. There is no question about that. That has always been their calling card. Brocade was the first to get 16 Gbps out," Kerravala said.
"You see more and more converged infrastructure . Cisco is doing its own thing with MDS and Nexus and all its products and partners like VMware and EMC. That leaves the door wide open for Brocade to go work with the Dells, HPs and IBMs that have helped them create competitive products." (continued...)
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