Industry’s First Ethernet Fabrics Serve as Foundation for Virtualised Data Centres
Brocade today announced a number of investments, including a $100 million evaluation program designed to enable eligible customers in the Asia Pacific region to quickly deploy Ethernet fabrics as the foundation for highly virtualised data centres. Brocade believes that the IT trends driving transformation in this region make it prime to adopt this fundamental technology to migrate to private, public and hybrid cloud computing architectures.
Ethernet fabric is a new category of networking technology that is purpose-built for virtualisation and cloud-optimised data centres. Brocade’s Ethernet fabric solution is powered by Brocade VCS™ technology and available through the Brocade® VDX 6720 Data Center Switch. In December, Brocade was the industry’s first company to deliver Ethernet fabric products to market.
The Asia Pacific region presents a vibrant market opportunity for virtualisation and cloud-computing related technology investments as, according to industry research, expenditures for these technologies are expected to grow from $2.5 billion this year to more than $6.7 billion (USD) by 2016*.
“Brocade intends to compete aggressively for the virtualisation and cloud computing business in Asia Pacific because this region is so important to our company’s long-term growth strategy,” said Mike Klayko, CEO of Brocade. “We believe we have a highly differentiated offering in the Ethernet fabric space that is based on a 15-year heritage of technical innovation and experience in building the world’s most mission-critical data centre networks.”
Investment components include the following:
- Eligible Brocade customers in Asia Pacific would have access to a $100 million product-evaluation program that enables them to test Ethernet fabric and other cloud-infrastructure products and support from Brocade at no cost with the option to purchase from a preferred Brocade partner;
- A series of executive-level roundtable meetings called “The Executive Cloud Study Program” aimed at regional IT executives and CIOs to be hosted at the Brocade campus in Silicon Valley. These executive forums will feature distinguished speakers and panelists from the leading Silicon Valley companies who are focused on the cloud and virtualization markets and is being planned to take place in June, September and December;
- A technology workshop series build virtualised data centres through reliable and scalable cloud-optimized networks. Brocade plans to host these half-day workshops at no cost to selected attendees in multiple countries and cities with the series planned to kick-off in May.
These additional investments augment the significant capital, resources and headcount Brocade has recently invested in the region. Brocade has nearly doubled the number of employees throughout Asia Pacific in the last 10 months. Brocade also has an active and growing R&D presence, IT services and back-office support in key, strategic locations. Brocade also maintains key relationships with contract manufacturers in the region for the manufacturing of its products.
“Growing a business requires continued investment especially in a region as competitive as Asia Pacific,” said Deb Dutta, vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific for Brocade. “These investments demonstrate how strategic we view the opportunities in this region and reflect our confidence in our ability to grow our business in core and emerging markets here.”
*SOURCE: “The Future of Virtualization, Cloud Computing and Green IT – Global Technologies & Markets Outlook – 2011-2016” [Market Intel Group, Inc.]
Cautionary Statement
This press release contains statements that are forward-looking in nature, including statements regarding Brocade's planned product evaluation program for the Asia Pacific region and adoption of its Ethernet fabric products and technologies. These statements are based on current expectations on the date of this press release and involve a number of risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. The risks include, but are not limited to, Brocade's ability to capitalize on new Brocade sales and marketing initiatives, including its planned product evaluation program for the Asia Pacific region and increased capital, resources and headcount in the region, and the adoption of Brocade’s Ethernet fabric products and technologies. Certain of these and other risks are set forth in more detail in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Brocade's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 30, 2010 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January 29, 2011. Brocade does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.
About Brocade
Brocade® (Nasdaq: BRCD) networking solutions help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. (www.brocade.com)
###
Brocade, the B-wing symbol, BigIron, DCFM, DCX, Fabric OS, FastIron, IronView, NetIron, SAN Health, ServerIron, TurboIron, and Wingspan are registered trademarks, and Brocade Assurance, Brocade NET Health, Brocade One, Extraordinary Networks, MyBrocade, VCS, and VDX are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
© 2011 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.