STORAGE

SAN JOSE, CA -- Brocade Communications Systems (Nasdaq:BRCD), a leading provider of infrastructure for Storage Area Networks (SANs), and Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT.) are teaming to deliver comprehensive optical SAN solutions to enterprises worldwide. The two companies today announced several joint initiatives, including: completion of extensive interoperability testing; expansion of their current relationship; and availability of three jointly developed, pre-tested SAN applications that will enable enterprises to internetwork their SANs across metropolitan and wide area networks. By internetworking Brocade fabrics over distance using optical infrastructure from Nortel Networks, companies can implement cost-effective business continuance solutions such as data mirroring, data replication, electronic tape vaulting, and remote server clustering to protect critical business information. Brocade and Nortel Networks have expanded their current relationship to accelerate deployment of optical SAN solutions to their mutual customers worldwide. "Enterprises are looking for pre-tested, robust, and cost-effective solutions to internetwork SANs over metro distances to meet their business continuity needs," said Dianne McAdam, Analyst, Illuminata, Inc. "Relationships, such as the one announced by Brocade and Nortel Networks, will be critical to delivering solutions that allow enterprises to achieve a high return on investment from their business continuity solution." The companies have completed extensive interoperability testing between Nortel Networks metro DWDM products and Brocade intelligent fabric switches -- including the recently announced 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) Brocade SilkWorm 3200, 3800 and 12000 -- through the Brocade Fabric Aware Program, a comprehensive testing and configuration initiative designed to foster end-to-end SAN interoperability in multi-vendor storage networking environments. Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 5100 and 5200 Multiservice Platforms are the first DWDM products to be Fabric Aware tested and qualified with the complete Brocade SilkWorm family of next generation SAN infrastructure. Brocade and Nortel Networks have also developed and pre-tested three new configurations for remote mirroring, remote consolidated backup, and remote centralized storage, designed to help ensure businesses always have access to mission-critical information. These pre-tested solutions speed SAN implementation and expansion by providing proven "recipes for success" that customers can use to deploy verified, interoperable enterprise SAN applications and configurations. As a result of intensive testing and validation by Nortel Networks and Brocade, the two companies have introduced joint SOLUTIONware application notes that provide detailed instructions on how to configure and deploy Nortel Networks optical infrastructure in a Brocade SAN environment. "Nortel Networks is absolutely committed to delivering best-in-class solutions that address the fundamental networking needs of our enterprise customers," said Marco Pagani, president, Metro Optical, Nortel Networks. "Nortel Networks is an industry leader in transport of SAN traffic across the metro. Our DWDM equipment carries more than 200 petabits of mission critical traffic per day. To put this in context, two years ago the entire Internet globally carried 30-to-40 petabits a month. By teaming with Brocade, we are better able to address some of today's most business-critical data management and storage requirements, while further reducing the total cost of ownership." "Brocade is pleased to be working with Nortel Networks to provide our customers with proven and validated configurations that simplify the internetworking of SANs across optical infrastructure," said Jeffrey Brooks, chief marketing officer, Brocade. "The combination of the Brocade intelligent platform for storage networking with Nortel Networks OPTera Metro 5100 and 5200 Multiservice Platforms is designed to create a reliable, scalable infrastructure that optimizes SAN manageability and performance across the metro area." For more information visit www.brocade.com or www.nortelnetworks.com.