EMC to develop software for McDATA's intelligent switch platform.

McDATA Corporation (Nasdaq:MCDTA) (Nasdaq:MCDT), the expert provider of multi-capable storage networking solutions, and EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), the world leader in information storage and management, today announced plans for EMC to develop and port software for McDATA's intelligent switch platform.

McDATA is committed to providing OEM and ISV partners with a best-of-breed fabric-based storage virtualization platform composed of a hardware engine, open API's and software developer's kit (SDK) that will allow storage virtualization and data movement applications to be enabled and accelerated in McDATA fabrics. The announcement further demonstrates the strong and enduring business and technology partnership between McDATA and EMC.

"EMC is focused on developing and placing intelligence throughout the information infrastructure, wherever it makes most sense for customers," said Mark Lewis, EMC Executive Vice President of Open Software. "To support this goal, EMC will develop fabric-based software for McDATA's Intelligent Switch Platform. Through efforts like this, EMC will deliver open, network-resident applications that allow customers to extend the value of their existing networked storage environments."

Fabric-based storage virtualization simplifies the management of a storage network for a customer by isolating physical descriptions of storage, server and network functionality and replacing it with logical designators. The details about the locations of data, characteristics of storage devices, and available capacity are masked from the customer and are presented via applications in a logical, non-restrictive manner, easing storage provisioning tasks and improving overall SAN utilization. As flexibility and storage utilization improves, fabric-based storage virtualization reduces storage network management requirements and improves the total cost of ownership for businesses. In addition to basic virtualization and presentation capabilities, intelligent switch platforms will provide a foundation for new value added services like data mobility, dynamic routing and others.

"This partnership is a major endorsement of our intelligent platform strategy and our commitment to accelerate storage virtualization and data movement applications from our major partners," said John Kelley, McDATA's CEO and chairman of the board. "EMC's participation in this program speaks volumes for the combined value EMC and McDATA continue to deliver our mutual customers."

The McDATA Intelligent Switch Platform supports heterogeneous storage environments and can be deployed in SAN fabrics and designs of varying size and usage. Through the implementation of McDATA's hardware platform, open API's, and SDK, system and storage OEM's can differentiate solutions by porting their data movement and storage virtualization applications to the McDATA platform.