Brocade Fabric Vision Technology Embracing 32Gb FC and OpenStack

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. announced Brocade Fabric Vision technology, a SAN hardware and software solution that maximizes uptime, simplifies SAN deployment and management, and provides visibility and insight into the storage network.

It is a collection of features and tools that enhance the company’s purpose-built, data center-proven Gen 5 FC portfolio to achieve reliability, scalability and 16 Gbps performance.

Brocade also announced an high density fixed-configuration SAN switch along with enhancements to its fabric management software. The new switch, the 6520, bolsters the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of Gen 5 FC modular, fixed port and embedded solutions, and further distances Brocade ahead of competitors with more than a year of broad customer deployment of products based on the 16 Gbps FC standard.

Brocade stated its commitment to develop new SAN solutions based on components that conform to the soon-to-be-ratified Gen 6 FC industry standard. In addition, the company is working with its storage partners to lead efforts in the OpenStack community to ensure that ongoing customer investments in FC SANs are protected as enterprises and service providers move to cloud orchestration frameworks, such as OpenStack, in their data centers.

"Our customers run their most critical applications and store their most important data on Brocade FC infrastructure to support highly virtualized and emerging cloud-optimized data centers. They depend on Brocade to continue innovating and developing solutions that solve real-world problems today and that can adapt to evolving requirements into the future," said Jason Nolet, VP of the data center networking group at Brocade. "This announcement underscores our investment and laser-focus on leading the FC industry with innovative technology and solutions built upon standards-based networking and management."

Simplified Management and Robust Network Analytics
with Brocade Fabric Vision Technology
Brocade Fabric Vision technology is an advanced hardware and software solution that combines capabilities from Brocade hardware, the embedded OS (Brocade Fabric OS) and management software (Brocade Network Advisor). Leveraging innovative diagnostics, monitoring and management capabilities, Brocade Fabric Vision technology provides administrators with the ability to anticipate and preempt problems before they impact operations, accelerate application deployments and reduce operational costs.

Brocade Fabric Vision technology includes:

• Policy-based tools that simplify fabric-wide threshold configuration and monitoring
• Management tools that allow administrators to identify, monitor and analyze specific application data flows, without the need for expensive, disruptive, third-party tools
• Monitoring tools that detect network congestion and latency in the fabric, providing visualization of bottlenecks and identifying exactly which devices and hosts are impacted
• Customizable health and performance dashboard views, providing all critical information in one screen
• Cable and optic diagnostic features that simplify the deployment and support of large fabrics

Driving Innovation with Gen 6 FC and OpenStack for FC
Efforts are well underway by the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) T11 Technical Committee, with technical leadership from Brocade, to finalize the standards for Gen 6 FC (32 Gbps) by the end of 2013. Brocade has already initiated R&D for Gen 6 FC technology to address the evolving storage networking needs of enterprise data centers.

Brocade is also working with the OpenStack Foundation to develop open source software that will simplify management of FC fabrics in cloud architectures. Next month, Brocade and its OEM partners will be proposing the FC SAN Zone Manager blueprint at the OpenStack Summit. Additionally, Brocade was involved in the FC Volume Manager blueprint proposal that will be included in the new OpenStack Grizzly software, also scheduled for release next month.

High Density Fixed-Configuration Switch
Enterprise IT continues to face unprecedented data and application growth, increased infrastructure complexity and data center space constraints. In addition, IT managers are looking for ways to build SAN fabrics that can scale to meet business demands, while increasing reliability, simplifying management and reducing costs.

The 6520 switch addresses these issues with 96 FC ports in a 2U form factor, delivering high port density and low space utilization for data center consolidation projects. In addition to Gen 5 FC functionality, reliability and performance, the density of the 6520 means fewer inter-switch links, fewer cables and fewer switches to manage – resulting in more reliable fabrics and lower overall costs.

The 6520 and new Brocade Network Advisor 12.0 are available through OEM partners Fujitsu, HP and NetApp, as well as through channel partners. These new products will be offered later this year by other OEM partners, including Dell, EMC and HDS.

Brocade Fabric Vision technology includes capabilities that are available through OEM and channel partners. It also includes future enhancements and new capabilities that will be available through OEM and channel partners later in 2013 and beyond.

"Because data is the life blood of our business, a highly reliable and agile network is essential for enabling Epsilon to manage more than 180 million loyalty members worldwide and deliver more than 42 billion permission-based emails annually. Brocade Gen 5 FC fabrics and Fabric Vision technology provide a solid foundation across multiple data centers that allows us to meet ever-changing customer requirements. We rely on Brocade’s enhanced management suite to provide greater SAN insight and control, which supports our ability to drive the new hyper-speed of marketing by blending marketing technology services with the deepest supply of marketing data," said David Kegley, director, enterprise storage delivery, Epsilon Data Management, LLC.

"Increasing infrastructure complexity continues to drive requirements for ongoing consolidation and simplification of IT resources. SAN management software, such as Brocade Fabric Vision technology, can improve the administrator’s ability to better monitor, manage and operate their storage networks, which can allow more time for the administrator to provide value back to the business," said Dan Iacono, research director, storage systems, IDC.

"According to ESG’s 2013 IT Spending Survey, increasing use of server virtualization technology continues to be a top priority. These highly virtualized and dynamic environments require greater levels of reliability and performance due to the increased impact that system failures can have on both revenue and productivity. However, leveraging the integrated, advanced diagnostic and monitoring capabilities of Brocade Fabric Vision technology will enable organizations to retain control, simplify SAN management and improve availability for these mission-critical environments," said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

"The Brocade 6520 SAN Switch rounds out Dell’s FC ecosystem, helping to improve the resilience, agility, availability and performance of our leading-edge, end-to-end 16 Gbps solution from server to switch to storage. This high-density switch is a perfect complement to our recent Compellent Storage Center 6.3 update, providing additional levels of scalability for larger SAN deployments," said Jeff Baher, director of product marketing, Dell, Inc.‘s enterprise solution group.

"EMC’s vision to drive IT efficiencies and business flexibility through IT transformation is further supported by Brocade’s commitment to advanced FC technology. With our EMC VMAX and EMC VNX storage platforms many of our customers rely on the robustness of EMC Connectrix storage networking solutions. And, with the ability to deliver high performance, Gen 5-configured Connectrix B-series systems solutions are a foundation point for our new EMC Xtrem family of flash-optimized server and storage products, and XtremIO all-flash storage arrays," said Parmeet Chaddha, VP partner solutions, EMC Corporation.

"The Fujitsu ETERNUS DX S2 Disk Storage Family, now providing up to 16 Gbps host connectivity, when combined with Brocade Gen 5 FC networking solutions, is a perfect match for our customers’ mission-critical, high-performance applications, such as large-scale server virtualization and SAN consolidation. Brocade’s leadership in fabric-based data center networking solutions, along with the company’s commitment to future innovation for Gen 6 FC solutions, makes it our networking partner of choice," said Marcus Schneider, senior director, head of product development group storage, Fujitsu Technology Solutions.

"Leveraging Brocade Gen 5 FC technology with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and Hitachi Unified Compute Platform delivers best-in-class infrastructure solutions for virtualized and converged environments. Together, Hitachi Data Systems and Brocade are helping organizations achieve continual access to mission-critical applications, virtualizing business-critical environments faster and with confidence all while improving overall business agility," said Roberto Basilio, VP, infrastructure platforms product management, Hitachi Data Systems Corp.

"Transitioning to virtualization or IT-as-a-Service stresses legacy storage architectures and outdated networks, often causing system downtime and limited application performance. Modern converged storage designs such as HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, coupled with high-performance Gen 5 FC technologies from Brocade, minimize workflow disruptions by accommodating today’s unpredictable workload demands, enabling organizations to drive innovation while delivering exceptional customer service," said Tom Joyce, VP, marketing, strategy and operations, storage, Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.

"Combining the Nimbus Gemini flash memory array and Brocade’s Gen 5 FC technology allows customers to redefine the data center with industry-leading 16 Gbps performance and reliability. This combination delivers greater I/O throughput and lower latency to power the most demanding workloads and remove the storage bottleneck, while enabling customers to reduce operating costs and achieve greater utilization of their data center infrastructure," said Tom Isakovich, CEO and founder, Nimbus Data Systems, Inc.