Advancements in Data Center Automation and Network Visibility Combined with New Brocade SLX Switches Enable Business Agility at
Cloud Speed
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 6, 2016) - Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) today announced an expanded
Brocade® SLX® family with new innovative switches that feature unparalleled network visibility and the addition of
Brocade Workflow Composer™ Automation Suites for turnkey automation. This is the industry's first data center networking
portfolio to deliver agility at all layers of the data center stack, while being open to provide customers with choice. With
Brocade, organizations can build networks that allow them to quickly adapt to technology transitions, deliver new services at
cloud speed and accelerate digital transformation.
Building on the Brocade
SLX 9850 routing solution that Brocade introduced in September, the new Brocade
SLX 9140,
SLX 9240 and
SLX 9540 data center switches deliver flexible leaf, spine and edge connectivity while leveraging the Brocade SLX Insight
Architecture™. By embedding network visibility on every router and switch, organizations can achieve pervasive visibility
throughout the network to quickly identify problems, accelerate mean-time-to-remediation and improve overall service levels. The
Brocade SLX 9140 and 9240 extend these capabilities with a programmable ASIC that provides Visibility Services from the physical
wire to virtual networks and workloads.
New automation suites, including Network Essentials, Data Center Fabrics and Internet Exchange Points for the
Brocade Workflow Composer platform, powered by StackStorm, provide automated network provisioning, validation,
troubleshooting and remediation workflows. These automation suites are ideal for customers who want to jumpstart their automation
journey with pre-built workflows to accelerate time-to-value. Introduced earlier this year, Brocade Workflow Composer is a
server-based, DevOps-style network automation platform that integrates across IT domains for end-to-end workflow automation.
According to IDC1, two-thirds of CEOs at Global 2000 companies will place digital transformation at the center of
their corporate strategies by the end of 2017. CEOs recognize they must become a digital organization to accelerate the pace
of innovation and drive competitive advantage or risk being displaced by more nimble competitors. Fast innovation can only
happen with an agile IT foundation where automation works seamlessly with network visibility while digitally connecting all IT
domains and functions together to eliminate silos and deliver end-to-end automation.
"Organizations that are going through digital transformation need networks that are extremely agile, extensively automated and
highly visible," said Jason Nolet, senior vice president, Switching, Routing and Analytics Products Group, Brocade. "Brocade
is delivering the breadth and depth of flexibility and agility that sets us apart from other network providers. We do so
vertically across the data center stack, and horizontally across domains within the data center -- while being open at every
layer."
Brocade SLX Family Advancements
- The new Brocade SLX 9140 leaf switch provides native 48x25 GbE server-facing ports and 6x100 GbE ports in a 1U fixed form
factor. It also features flexible 1/10/25/40/100 GbE configuration options.
- The new Brocade SLX 9240 spine switch delivers high density 32x100 GbE ports in a 1U fixed form factor.
- Both the Brocade SLX 9140 and SLX 9240 switches feature the first programmable ASIC in their class of switch enabling
Brocade to rapidly deliver new capabilities via software. This eliminates expensive forklift upgrades for customers when
new technologies and protocols are introduced into the environment. The ASIC builds on the Brocade SLX Insight Architecture, an
open kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) environment to run third-party and customer-specific monitoring, troubleshooting and
analytics applications, by adding Visibility Services to provide insight into virtual networks and workloads. Actions can be
taken within the switch or through applications and tools outside of the switch, such as Splunk or Brocade Workflow
Composer.
- The Brocade SLX 9540 switch delivers carrier-class features in a cost-effective 1 RU fixed form factor optimized for data
center interconnect, WAN edge and Internet exchange point deployments. It offers 48x10 GbE ports and 6x100 GbE ports.
Brocade Workflow Composer Automation Suites
Designed to run with the Brocade Workflow Composer platform, Brocade automation suites are ideal for IT
organizations seeking to embrace automation but have limited automation development skills and resources. The suites provide
out-of-box network lifecycle automation for commonly performed tasks and are packaged to address major use cases. Each automation
suite includes documentation and a collection of turnkey, yet customizable workflows, services, sensors, actions, and
rules. Customers can use Brocade automation suites as is or as starter kits for building or customizing workflows specific
to their data center requirements to reduce time-to-value.
Supporting Quotes
- "Enterprises want to build datacenter networks that emulate those of the web-scale giants, but they frequently lack the
in-house expertise and resources required to implement such networks and to operate them effectively. As such, they turn to
trusted vendors as key partners that can provide them with technologies that are easy to consume, deploy, and manage. Brocade's
approach to embedding visibility into their switches, combined with enhanced automation and programmability, can help
organizations transform their networks to align with their digital-transformation initiatives." - Brad Casemore,
research director, Datacenter Networks, IDC
- "Brocade's new data center product portfolio will give us enhanced network visibility from our infrastructure to
applications and provide the agility we need to support our customers' evolving expectations in our dynamic environment." -
Luke Norris, CEO, Faction, Inc.
- "At SwissIX Internet Exchange, we need to be able to quickly provide increasing bandwidth and new interconnection services
at a very low price. We are excited to start testing the Brocade SLX 9540 and the prospect it holds with Brocade Workflow
Composer automation suites to cost effectively scale bandwidth and service capability while helping our network operations to
support service agility." - Matthias Cramer, board member, SwissIX
Availability
The Brocade SLX 9140 and SLX 9240 are currently planned to be orderable in January 2017. The Brocade SLX 9540
is orderable today. All switches are planned to be generally available in April 2017. Brocade Workflow Composer is generally
available today. The new automation suites will be available for preview in December 2016 with general availability planned
for February 2017.
Additional Resources:
About Brocade
Brocade® (NASDAQ: BRCD) networking solutions help the world's leading organizations turn their networks
into platforms for business innovation. With solutions spanning public and private data centers to the network edge, Brocade
is leading the industry in its transition to the New IP network infrastructures required for today's era of digital business.
(www.brocade.com)
© 2016 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
These products and features and their availability are subject to change at the sole discretion of Brocade, and Brocade
shall have no liability for delay in the delivery or failure to deliver any of the products or features described
herein.
Brocade, the B-wing symbol, and MyBrocade are registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United
States and in other countries. Other brands, product names, or service names mentioned of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
are listed at
www.brocade.com/en/legal/brocade-Legal-intellectual-property/brocade-legal-trademarks.html. Other marks
may belong to third parties.
1 IDC Analyst Connection, "Modernizing Data Center Networks for Digital Transformation," Sept. 2016.