Brocade ‘redefines’ SAN management and operation

Brocade Fabric Vision technology simplifies the setup and ongoing operation of the new EMC storage and data protection systems. Included is Brocade’s advanced Monitoring and Alerting Policy Suite (MAPS) capability that enables IT staff to deploy 15 years of industry best-practice monitoring and alerting in a single click for EMC Connectrix® Gen 5 Fibre Channel SAN switches. Customisable dashboard views provide early warning of potential problems and help IT staff to visualise overall fabric health and performance to reduce operational costs.

Brocade Network Advisor Professional, an essential element of Brocade Fabric Vision technology, has new features to support midsized environments, including dual-fabric redundant paths between servers and storage that deliver enterprise-class reliability and availability. The software also supports smaller port counts, enabling SANs to be right-sized for optimal operation. Brocade Fabric Vision technology and Brocade Network Advisor are offered by EMC as Connectrix Manager Converged Network Edition (CMCNE).

“Mid-range enterprises deploying EMC VSPEX solutions have many of the same requirements faced by large enterprises in supporting virtualisation and private cloud initiatives, including maintaining high application availability and responsive support level agreements,” said Jack Rondoni, vice president, Data Centre Storage and Solutions, at Brocade. “Because SANs play a crucial role in each of these areas, we optimised Brocade Fabric Vision technology and Brocade Network Advisor to enable customers to better leverage the Fibre Channel functionality designed into the new EMC VNXe and Data Domain solutions. Now they can achieve the same reliability, availability and performance levels of larger environments.”

EMC’s new VNXe and Data Domain systems are simple, efficient and protected solutions optimised for mid-range customers with enterprise capabilities and the ability to handle mixed virtualised workloads – ideal for environments with limited IT resources. The EMC VNXe3200 is EMC’s most affordable unified hybrid array delivering MCx multicore optimised power combined with simple and fast setup, new levels of efficiency and five-nines availability for business-critical applications. The new Data Domain DD2200 reduces backup and archive storage requirements by 10 to 30x and consolidates backup and archive data on a single system to eliminate silos.

EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructure, available only through channel partners, can combine Brocade cloud-optimised networking technologies with EMC unified storage and next generation backup architecture, while enabling customers to leverage their server and hypervisor of choice. Building on the momentum of the channel’s success with VSPEX, EMC recently announced 11 new VSPEX configurations powered by VNXe3200, VNX5200, and DD2200 to support application, private cloud and end user computer workloads.

“We work closely with our partners to ensure customers of all sizes have access to the industry’s most advanced technologies to maintain a competitive edge for growth and prosperity,” said Brian Jackson, Senior Director, Global Alliances, EMC Corporation. “Combining our new VNXe primary storage, Data Domain protection storage and VSPEX solutions with Brocade’s enhanced SAN technologies advances the state-of-the-art in helping our mid-market customers further their journey to the cloud by transforming their operations to deliver IT as a service.”