APPLICATIONS

SAN JOSE, CA -- Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade(R)) (Nasdaq: BRCD), a leading provider of infrastructure for Storage Area Networks (SANs), announced today that Brocade Fabric Partners -- which include systems integrators and value-added resellers-are delivering the Brocade SilkWorm(R) 3800 Enterprise Fabric Switch to their customers worldwide, further expanding the “significant” industry adoption of the first in a family of Brocade 2 Gigabit/second (Gbit/sec) products designed for the unique requirements of enterprise storage environments. Based on the company's Intelligent Fabric Services Architecture, the 16-port SilkWorm 3800 increases SAN scalability and reliability, enhances the security of the SAN fabric, and simplifies storage network management. With this announcement, Acclaim Technologies, Inc., Bell Microproducts, CNT, Insight, Rand Federal, SAN Solutions, StorNet, Unique Digital, TidalWire, and XIOtech are offering the Brocade SilkWorm 3800 and Fabric Manager(TM) software to their customers. The release of the SilkWorm 3800 to the channel complements the OEM partners already offering the product, which was released earlier this year. OEM partners offering the SilkWorm 3800 include Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, SGI, and StorageTek. "Today's announcement by Brocade to the channel reaffirms its commitment to deliver leading edge solutions and reach more customers through this important avenue," said Janet Waxman, Program Director, Systems and Storage Channels and Alliances, IDC. "Brocade has long recognized the value that channel partners provide in its go-to-market strategy." The SilkWorm 3800 is the industry's first fabric switch to deliver the advanced fabric services needed for enterprise storage applications, such as business continuance, storage and server consolidation, and centralized data management, allowing companies to optimize IT assets and increase operational efficiency. More than forty-five Brocade partners and OEMs have offered endorsements and commitments to deliver the product to end customers, the largest demonstration of industry adoption to date for 2 Gbit/sec SAN infrastructure. With today's announcement of general availability to the channel, Brocade Fabric Partners can now fulfill the demand for the SilkWorm 3800, expanding the options for SAN customers to extend their infrastructure with next-generation Brocade technology that is forward and backward compatible with the existing installed base of over one million Brocade Fibre Channel ports. Brocade Fabric Partners can now also offer Brocade Fabric Manager, a software application that configures, monitors, dynamically provisions, and manages multiple Brocade switches and Brocade SAN fabrics from a single console. Fabric Manager extends the suite of management tools for managing Brocade-based SANs and complements enterprise storage and host management applications from Brocade application partners. Using Fabric Manager, administrators can automate common switch and fabric management tasks thereby simplifying the maintenance of the storage area network. Fabric Manager is available today across the entire Brocade SilkWorm product family. Functionality provided in Fabric Manager is also available to Brocade partners through the Brocade Fabric Access(TM) Applications Programming Interface (API), which allows easy integration of full Brocade SAN management features into third-party SAN applications. "The SilkWorm 3800 and Fabric Manager deliver on the promise of intelligence in the storage network, offering the industry's first 2 Gbit/sec SAN infrastructure with the advanced fabric services required by the storage enterprise," said Jay Kidd, Brocade Vice President of Product Marketing. "We are pleased to work with our Fabric Partners to expand market availability of the Brocade SilkWorm 3800 worldwide, meeting customer demand for SAN infrastructure that is highly available, scalable, secure, and manageable." For more information visit www.brocade.com