May 03, 2010, 10:28 AM — Brocade announced that its best-in-class 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) have been successfully qualified and are available from EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM and NetApp. This distinction serves to further validate Brocade's market position as a leader in high-performance CNA solutions that help enable network convergence.
Brocade single chip CNAs -- available in two models: the Brocade 1010 single-port CNA and the Brocade 1020 dual-port CNA -- deliver up to 1,000,000 IOPS on a dual port card, enabling improved performance to handle real-world applications including enterprise email and database applications. The Brocade 1010 and 1020 CNAs are also fully capable 10 GbE NICs supporting the new Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) or Data Center Bridging (DCB) standards for low-latency, lossless Ethernet, making them also an ideal platform for running high-performance, reliable iSCSI solutions.
Within the rack, the multiprotocol, Brocade 8000 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Switch connects to servers equipped with Brocade 1010 and 1020 CNAs to provide a seamless, end-to-end network connectivity solution, from server to storage target. In addition, as many enterprises continue to migrate and store greater amounts of data in virtualized environments, virtualization-aware network services and manageability become essential. Brocade CNAs extend vital fabric services to the virtual machine level and work in conjunction with the Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM), to provide virtual machine visibility and true end-to-end network management from a single view.
"Dell'Oro Group believes the value proposition of a single converged fabric is extremely compelling," said Seamus Crehan, vice president at Dell'Oro Group. "We expect that FCoE adoption will first occur at the server access layer of the network with CNAs connecting mostly to blade and top-of-rack switches and we forecast that FCoE CNAs will grow from two thousand ports in 2008 to 2.7 million ports in 2014."
"As today's enterprises seek to improve overall data center networking cost and performance efficiencies, converged networking is becoming an extremely attractive option. The rigorous testing and qualifications awarded from major storage and server vendors will only help to accelerate adoption rates," said Bob Laliberte, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Industry leaders like Brocade enable enterprises to converge their storage and IP networks by deploying Brocade CNAs and Brocade 8000 Switches. These high performance solutions provide network consolidation and convergence while reducing data center operating costs."
The Brocade CNAs are available today through EMC Select, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NetApp and Brocade certified channel partners. The Brocade 8000 Switch is also available today through Brocade OEM partners including EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NetApp, HP and Dell, as well as through Brocade certified channel partners.
