News

posted on 28 February 2008 13:12

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NetApp is OEM'ing Brocade's DCX data centre backbone switch.
The DCX is Brocade's more-than-a-SAN-director switch and is aimed to be a backbone switch for an entire data centre, interconnecting servers, storage and networking resources. Unlike Cisco's equivalent product the DCX is compatible with existing Brocade and McData storage area network (SAN) fabric switches and director products. Both Cisco and Brocade foresee an all-Ethernet foundation with Fibre Channel SAN traffic layered onto Ethernet via the FCOE protocol.

Brocade's Ian Whiting, VP and GM for the data centre infrastructure division, alluded to this, saying: “With the Brocade DCX, this (Brocade and NetApp) strategy includes a future path to improved Fibre Channel or Ethernet interoperability and consolidation.”

It's interesting that NetApp sees a need to sell data centre communications products alongside its storage arrays. Storage does not stand alone as it were. NetApp's solutions marketing VP, Patrick Rogers, implied this, saying: “The Brocade DCX Backbone is a great match for NetApp’s unified storage platform. With our enterprise customers placing so much emphasis on rationalising and virtualising their data centre infrastructure, the combination of the DCX Backbone with our FAS systems will be instrumental in helping them realise their objectives. Furthermore, our ongoing relationship with Brocade continues to enhance our SAN interoperability and data center storage portfolio.”

The companies say that Brocade's DCX Backbone better enables NetApp customers to consolidate their data management and storage environments into logical, multiprotocol infrastructures for both Fibre Channel and Ethernet SANs and supports existing and emerging protocols (code for FCOE). Furthermore, it enables interoperability between Brocade, Brocade M-Series, and other vendor fabrics to help maximize ROI.

Cisco might wish it too had OEM arrangements with a major storage supplier. Brocade is being energetic in defending its storage turf against Cisco.