Brocade Unveils the Industry’s First IP Storage Switch for EMC Connectrix


Expanded OEM Relationship with EMC Delivers Dedicated Storage Networks that Improve Performance, Resiliency and Agility for New IP Workloads

Brocade® (NASDAQ: BRCD), the leader in storage fabric networking solutions, today expanded its longstanding OEM relationship with EMC Corporation by adding Brocade VCS™ Ethernet fabric solutions to EMC’s Connectrix® family of network switches, creating the industry’s first network switch designed for IP storage. Available now, the Connectrix VDX-6740B IP storage switch establishes a resilient, agile and easily-deployed foundation for EMC storage, cloud, deduplication and backup and recovery systems.

“Legacy IP network designs were never intended for today’s New IP applications, such as cloud, mobile, social and big data,” said Gary Denman, Senior Director for Australia and New Zealand, Brocade. “Through our extended partnership with EMC, customers can now realize the improved performance, resiliency and agility of a dedicated IP storage network for the growing mission critical nature of their IP storage-based applications.”

EMC customers will deploy the new switch to separate IP storage traffic from other data traffic, a more reliable and efficient approach compared to legacy deployments where storage traffic and all other network traffic share the same network infrastructure.

“Today’s IP storage workloads can benefit from a dedicated IP storage network which establishes the same performance, predictability, availability and operational simplicity that we have been delivering to our Fibre Channel customers for the past 15+ years,” said Jonathan Siegal, vice president, marketing, Core Technologies Division, EMC Corporation.

Enterprises are demanding more flexible, open network architectures that help fulfill the promise of IDC’s Third Platform compute model. “IP storage capacity is doubling nearly every two years, and transitioning to higher-performance, more mission-critical applications,” said Ashish Nadkarni, research director, Storage Systems and Software, at IDC. “To meet these new requirements, organizations should consider dedicated networks for IP-based storage as a better approach to align their networking infrastructures with business needs.”

Fabrics Optimized for IP Storage Now Enabled with EMC Connectrix

The Connectrix VDX-6740B is a high performance, low latency IP storage switch that provides connectivity for a broad array of EMC high-end and mid-range NAS and iSCSI storage platforms. The new switch redefines agility with superior automation and simplicity, achieved through zero-touch, self-forming fabrics.

“The VDX 6740 will allow us to better guarantee application performance and availability for our VNX environment, particularly for our databases,” said Joshua Olstad, director of IT, Oyster River Cooperative School. “The network infrastructure will be quick to deploy and management will be easier than our legacy network, including the ability to move live virtual machines between servers for load balancing.”

Connectrix VDX solutions are integrated with Connectrix Manager Converged Network Edition (CMCNE), which provides unified management, monitoring and diagnostics for both IP and fibre channel storage networks. Integration with EMC Storage Analytics software delivers actionable performance analysis and enables customers to quickly identify and resolve performance and capacity issues.

Additional Connectrix VDX-6740B Details

  • Connectivity for high-end and mid-range NAS and iSCSI storage platforms, including EMC’s VMAX3®, VNX®, Isilon® and XtremIO™ products
  • Storage fabric connectivity for EMC’s VSPEX® Proven Infrastructure cloud and EMC’s VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged appliance, as well as for EMC’s Data Domain™ deduplication and Avamar® backup and recovery systems
  • Patented load-balanced, multi-pathing for optimal performance and efficiency
  • Deep, on-chip buffers deliver more than two-times the throughput of any other switch in its class
  • Storage-class resiliency with millisecond link failover allowing I/O to continue non-disruptively after a path or link failure
  • End-to-end interoperability testing with EMC storage, cloud, deduplication, backup and recovery systems through EMC’s E-Lab™ program
  • Three-year hardware warranties, with options for both Premium and Enhanced support

The Connectrix VDX-6740B is available now from EMC Corporation and its global network of channel partners. For pricing information, please contact EMC at emc.com. 

Additional Resources

EMC Pulse Blog: Bringing the EMC Connectrix Experience to IP Storage Networks for Private and Hybrid Clouds

ESG Analyst Video: Isolating IP Storage Networks Improves Application Uptime

ESG White Paper: The Evolution of IP Storage and Its Impact on the Network

Jason Nolet Blog: Redefining the IP Storage Experience with the new EMC Connectrix VDX-6740B Switch

Brocade Video: EMC and Brocade Redefine the IP Storage Experience

Brocade Video: EMC and Brocade Redefine the IP Storage Experience

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)

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