Firms Release SAN Management Wizard For SMBs

Emulex Corporation and Brocade Communications Systems have expanded their partnership to jointly develop the first multi-vendor storage area network management wizard. They expect this joint effort will help drive SAN technologies in the small and midrange business market.

Both companies have recently focused on delivering Fibre Channel SAN connectivity to SMBs. The new SAN management wizard is intended to appeal to the same market by integrating the management and installation of Emulex host bus adapters and Brocade SilkWorm embedded storage switches in a single interface.

The two companies' SAN products are already available through their channel partners as a bundled solution. However, according to Emulex executive vice president of worldwide marketing Mike Smith, the new initiative is an important step in the further simplification and cost reduction of SAN technology for SMB users.

"This expanded partnership enables both Emulex and Brocade to provide a new level of value add to customers in search of simple and affordable storage networking solutions," Smith said in a statement. "Our co-development of the first multi-vendor SAN management wizard is just the beginning of our new initiatives with Brocade to reduce the cost and complexity associated with storage area networks."