Brocade Offers BladeCenter Gateway

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD - News), the leader in networked storage solutions that help enterprises connect and manage their information, today announced the availability of Brocade Access Gateway for IBM BladeCenter solutions. The new feature enables interoperability between Brocade blade Storage Area Network (SAN) switches and products from other SAN switch and director manufacturers, while also simplifying SAN management and reducing costs.

Brocade Access Gateway utilizes N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology, which has been standardized by the industry's T11 Technical Committee as a method to virtualize multiple SAN devices for greater interoperability and scalability. It is compatible with all IBM BladeCenter chassis and IBM-supported Fibre Channel HBAs, and is a key addition to BladeCenter Open Fabric.

"We are pleased to add Brocade Access Gateway functionality to the IBM BladeCenter portfolio to provide customers a simplified option to connect multiple blade servers to external storage networks through a single physical connection," said Alex Yost, Vice President and Business Line Executive, IBM BladeCenter. "In teaming with Brocade to bring its latest embedded SAN blade interoperability solution to market, IBM continues to extend the storage networking capability of BladeCenter Open Fabric, which helps further simplify the acquisition, integration, and operation of advanced servers for demanding IT environments."

Brocade Communications Systems Inc.