Brocade unveils the industry's first Fibre Channel gigabit switch that will allow users to build a Fabric for the emerging server-storage area network.SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 1997-- SilkWorm silkworm, name for the larva of various species of moths, indigenous to Asia and Africa but now domesticated and raised for silk production throughout most of the temperate zone. The culture of silkworms is called sericulture. directly addresses server-storage I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output bottlenecks by providing extensive scalability of both storage and I/O bandwidth at an affordable entry price-point Brocade Communications Systems Brocade, Inc. NASDAQ: BRCD, based in Silicon Valley, designs, manufactures, and sells storage networking solutions and management applications for storage area networks (SANs) and file area networks (FANs). Inc. Monday introduced SilkWorm, a 2- to 16-port Fibre Channel gigabit switch designed to build scalable and resilient Fibre Channel Fabrics -- the intelligent infrastructure required to create a scalable network. SilkWorm's Fabric has the five essential elements that are required to create a scalable server-storage area network: shared storage among multiple servers; network scalability; high performance for large block data transfers; complete data integrity and reliability; and fast data access and backup capabilities. Additionally, SilkWorm, unlike a Fibre Channel hub, can sustain a one-gigabit-per-second full-duplex transfer rate from each port, providing an aggregate bandwidth of 16 gigabits per second. Combined, all of these elements make SilkWorm the most cost-effective solution, providing unparalleled modularity for customers by allowing them to make an immediate purchasing decision without having to overbuy o·ver·buy v. o·ver·bought , o·ver·buy·ng, o·ver·buys v.tr. 1. To buy in excessive amounts. 2. and anticipate future needs. "Today's global corporations base their business on information movement, knowing that access to data drives their entire business model and time-to-market," said Bruce Bergman, Brocade's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "Companies can use SilkWorm's scalable Fabric to cluster servers and storage, provide increased accessibility to large databases, and execute data-dependent applications including data warehousing See data warehouse. data warehousing - data warehouse and imaging. "In addition, Internet/Intranet applications, such as corporate Web sites and service provider Web servers, can benefit from SilkWorm by building a cost-effective, modular Fabric that allows independent additions of servers and/or storage." Increased storage demands a switching fabric Currently, companies are experiencing severe I/O bottlenecks at the server-storage connection. In the typical server-storage point-to-point configuration, users are unable to expand beyond two connections. This dilemma is driving an industry paradigm shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See paradigm. in which the server-storage interconnect is taking on the traits of traditional communications network The transmission channels interconnecting all client and server stations as well as all supporting hardware and software. infrastructures and becoming a server-storage area network using a switching architecture. Brocade is the only company positioned to provide the critical element of this separate server-storage area network -- a switching Fabric based on Fibre Channel's ANSI (American National Standards Institute, New York, www.ansi.org) A membership organization founded in 1918 that coordinates the development of U.S. voluntary national standards in both the private and public sectors. It is the U.S. member body to ISO and IEC. specification. Whereas ATM, 100base-T and Gigabit Ethernet An Ethernet standard that transmits at 1 Gbps. Used mostly to connect high-end workstations and servers as well as for network backbones, Gigabit Ethernet transmits full duplex from point to point using switches and half duplex in a shared environment (CSMA/CD) using a hub. have the characteristics most suitable for the traditional communications network, only Fibre Channel allows for large block transfers with high data integrity which is required for the server-storage area network(a). Fibre Channel's inherent qualities, particularly reliability, high availability Also called "RAS" (reliability, availability, serviceability) or "fault resilient," it refers to a multiprocessing system that can quickly recover from a failure. There may be a minute or two of downtime while one system switches over to another, but processing will continue. and support for multiple protocols (including SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. and IP) make it the industry's storage interconnect of choice for migrating beyond SCSI. "Aberdeen believes Internet/Intranet technologies will continue to drive up IT (information technology) requirements across the board," said Sam Alunni, senior analyst, networking for Aberdeen Group Aberdeen Group is a provider of business-related research services. It has its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts and belongs to the Harte-Hanks group. Founded in 1988, Aberdeen's research is used by over 2. Inc., a research firm based in Boston. "Traditional network vendors, for example, are rushing forward with new technologies that relieve congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. and provide additional bandwidth in the desktop-to-server, campus backbone and WAN areas. Brocade is the only company we've seen that recognizes that the same sort of networking problem is occurring between the servers and the storage systems on which all of this data is housed. "They've taken the switching architecture idea and combined it with Fibre Channel to deliver a scalable, easy-to-install, standards-based solution that pumps up bandwidth on the server-to-storage network. Anyone looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a solution to the I/O bottleneck -- those doing data warehousing, for example -- would be interested in Brocade's product." SilkWorm's competitive advantages and benefits Brocade designed SilkWorm to excel in performance, cost, scalability and ease-of-use. SilkWorm's rich features, particularly its unique software capabilities, offers customers a comprehensive switching Fabric solution for the server-storage network. Fabric Management As a Fabric grows, management tools become essential. SilkWorm is the first Fibre Channel switch In a computer storage field, a Fibre Channel switch is a network switch compatible with Fibre Channel (FC) protocol. It allows the creation of a Fibre Channel fabric, that is currently the core component of most storage area networks. to implement Simple Name Server, which discovers and tracks directory information about devices attached to the Fabric. This feature management makes additions and topology changes easier to handle. SilkWorm also offers the multicast service (simultaneous transmission of data to multiple users), which allows more information to be moved through a fixed bandwidth. Management services are available via SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Data are passed from SNMP agents, which are hardware and/or software processes reporting activity in each network device (hub, router, bridge, etc. and Telnet, and the switch includes an Ethernet port A socket on a computer or network device for plugging in an Ethernet cable. See WAN port. for remote diagnostics. Fabric resiliency Self-learning, auto-configuration and automatic reconfiguration are also important SilkWorm features, simplifying both installation and fabric management and allowing for the creation of a fault-tolerant infrastructure that ensures users can access data consistently and reliably. Superior performance and latency Performance is measured by frame forwarding rates and intrinsic switch latency. SilkWorm's design performs critical switching and frame forwarding functions in hardware -- not software. Additionally, SilkWorm uses distributed, cut-through frame forwarding without having to store the entire frame. These two design characteristics result in an amazingly low switch latency (typically sub-microsecond). SilkWorm's superior performance is further enhanced by its use of Fibre Channel Class 2 and 3 connectionless services. SilkWorm does not have to establish and maintain a connection during data transmission. The switch multiplexes frame traffic between multiple devices, resulting in high utilization of the Fabric's bandwidth. Scalability SilkWorm is the first Fibre Channel switch to cascade, offering true scalability. Each Brocade switch can house 16 ports -- which are made up from eight plug-in port options, with two G-Ports per option. Each of SilkWorm's versatile ports has auto-sensing capabilities with the ability to make point-to-point connections to either a node (server, disk array, etc.) or another SilkWorm switch. Up to 32 switches can be connected in a mesh topology providing hundreds of connections with an increase in aggregate throughput. Pricing and availability Brocade is currently shipping SilkWorm, including short-wave optical modules, to major OEMs at the industry-low average per-port cost of $1,500 at 16 ports. SilkWorm will be able to connect to a Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop later this year. VAR and systems integrator programs will launch in the second half of the year. About Brocade Communications Systems Inc. Brocade's primary focus is to help customers build gigabit Fibre Channel switching Fabrics, enabling them to optimize connections between data storage and enterprise servers, and to design high-performance, scalable data center backbones. Brocade has headquarters at 2231 Calle De Luna in Santa Clara, Calif. 95054. For more information about Brocade, check out the company's Web site at http://www.brocadecomm.com, or contact Brenda Christensen, vice president, marketing at 408/588-4123 or via e-mail at info@brocadecomm.com. SilkWorm is a trademark of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. -0- (a) For diagrams detailing the migration to the server-storage area network using SilkWorm, please contact Sari Gallagher at 310/822-4669. CONTACT: Miller/Shandwick Technologies Sari Gallagher or Mary Carlisle, 310/822-4669 sgallagher@miller.shandwick.com mcarlisle@miller.shandwick.com |
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