Brocade has added its VCS Ethernet fabric solutions to EMC’s Connectrix family of network switches. The Connectrix VDX-6740B IP storage switch establishes a resilient, agile and easily-deployed foundation for EMC storage, cloud, de-duplication and backup and recovery systems.

“Legacy IP network designs were never intended for today’s new IP applications, such as cloud, mobile, social and big data,” said Edgar Dias, Regional Director, India, Brocade. “Through our extended partnership with EMC, customers can now realise the improved performance, resiliency and agility of a dedicated IP storage network for the growing mission critical nature of their IP storage-based applications.”

EMC customers will deploy the new switch to separate IP storage traffic from other data traffic, a more reliable and efficient approach compared to legacy deployments where storage traffic and all other network traffic share the same network infrastructure.

“As enterprises transition from the second to the third platform, there is need for a dedicated IP Storage Network solution which provides the requisite infrastructure to address their changing storage needs. EMC Connectrix is the industry leader for delivering highly available, high performance and easily managed SANs and the introduction of the Connectrix VDX-6740B will enable the EMC Storage platforms to support customer mission critical data and applications more effectively,” said, Rajesh Janey, President, India and SAARC, EMC Corporation. “EMC and Brocade have been close partners for over 15 years, delivering excellent products and world class support and the EMC Connectrix VDX-6740B is a testimony of how this partnership extends direct customer and Channel market reach.”

Enterprises are demanding more flexible, open network architectures that help fulfill the promise of IDC’s Third Platform compute model. “IP storage capacity is doubling nearly every two years, and transitioning to higher-performance, more mission-critical applications,” said Ashish Nadkarni, research director, Storage Systems and Software, IDC. “To meet these new requirements, organisations should consider dedicated networks for IP-based storage as a better approach to align their networking infrastructures with business needs.”

Fabrics Optimised for IP Storage Now Enabled with EMC Connectrix

The Connectrix VDX-6740B is a high performance, low latency IP storage switch that provides connectivity for a broad array of EMC high-end and mid-range NAS and iSCSI storage platforms. The new switch redefines agility with superior automation and simplicity, achieved through zero-touch, self-forming fabrics.

Connectrix VDX solutions are integrated with Connectrix Manager Converged Network Edition (CMCNE), which provides unified management, monitoring and diagnostics for both IP and fibre channel storage networks. Integration with EMC Storage Analytics software delivers actionable performance analysis and enables customers to quickly identify and resolve performance and capacity issues.

Additional Connectrix VDX-6740B Details

• Connectivity for high-end and mid-range NAS and iSCSI storage platforms, including EMC’s VMAX3, VNX, Isilon and XtremIO products
• Storage fabric connectivity for EMC’s VSPEX infrastructure cloud and EMC’s VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged appliance, as well as for EMC’s Data Domain de-duplication and Avamar backup and recovery systems
• Patented load-balanced, multi-pathing for optimal performance and efficiency
• Deep, on-chip buffers deliver more than two-times the throughput of any other switch in its class
• Storage-class resiliency with millisecond link failover allowing I/O to continue non-disruptively after a path or link failure
• End-to-end interoperability testing with EMC storage, cloud, deduplication, backup and recovery systems through EMC’s E-Lab program.