Brocade announced new capabilities for its distance extension products that enable mainframe enterprise customers to better connect, protect, and access their business-critical data across virtually any distance.

Brocade Accelerator for FICON is the latest performance-enhancing product in the Brocade Data Center Fabric (DCF) architecture, a framework that helps organizations to transform their data center infrastructures for maximum performance, flexibility, and investment protection. The new solution, available as an optional software license, leverages proven, fourth-generation technology as well as innovative advanced networking capabilities, data management techniques, and protocol intelligence to speed up mainframe-connected disk and tape operations over distance.

"The mainframe remains a critical backbone element in many enterprises' datacenter environments as they work to support ever higher levels of transactions on this secure and efficient computing platform," said Richard Villars, Vice President of Storage Systems research at IDC. "Products like Brocade's Accelerator for FICON will play an important role in helping enterprises efficiently grow their mainframe infrastructure while ensuring high levels of data availability and security."

Because business continuity and global data mobility continue to grow in importance for today's organizations, the ability to share and replicate critical information over distance is playing an increasingly larger role. Mainframe architectures have evolved to improve performance, but often require specialized distance extension solutions to meet the requirements of today's global enterprises. Brocade Accelerator for FICON -- in conjunction with the Brocade 7500 and 7500E Extension Switches and Brocade FR4-18i SAN Extension Blade -- enables the industry's highest performance and most robust extension solutions over hundreds or thousands of miles, while delivering local-like performance.

"Ensuring the industry's highest levels of data access is a requirement for our customers and we are committed to delivering reliable and cost-effective business continuity solutions," said Jay Wallace, Senior Director of Mainframe Storage, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Brocade Accelerator for FICON's Emulation and Pipelining capabilities enable long-distance backup and recovery for applications like remote virtual tape -- giving our customers greater flexibility in business continuity and disaster recovery strategies."

"By delivering a service level for remote applications that is not impacted by geographic location, Brocade Accelerator for FICON allows FICON disk and tape resources to be located where business dictates, anywhere in the world," said Mario Blandini, Director of Product Marketing for the Brocade Data Center Infrastructure Division. "This allows greater levels of data protection and business continuity in global data centers, and lets customers maximize their investments in the network infrastructures that run their business."

Brocade Accelerator for FICON will be available beginning in May from Brocade and Sun Microsystems and from other OEM providers later this year.