BlueArc Buddies Up to Brocade for Switches

Looking to bolster the availability of data on its servers, storage systems vendor BlueArc has agreed to use switches from Brocade Communications .

San Jose, Calif.-based BlueArc will now ship its Titan SiliconServer with Brocade’s SilkWorm 3250 eight-port switch or SilkWorm 3850 16-port switch to improve the delivery and management of data for customers. BlueArc will continue to employ switches from Vixel in its Si8000 line of NAS machines.

Customers with storage networks continue to ask vendors for increased availability of data based on shifting workloads. Accordingly, storage vendors are forced to come up with remedies to alleviate their customers’ data transmission pain. Because SilkWorm switches help storage networks grow without data disruption, they are very attractive for systems vendors.

Partnering with Brocade, whose switches help route data quickly and reliably and whose reputation as a solid original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is strong, was the answer, according to BlueArc Director of Marketing Jim Schaff.

Schaff told internetnews.com that BlueArc, in the second quarter of shipping Titan SiliconServer, is finding that adding Brocade’s name to its product mix is enabling it to attract more attention from customers who know the brand name as a “gold standard in the enterprise.”

Launched last January, Titan allows a single file system to grow up to 256 terabytes — greater than most single systems today — and delivers throughput of up to 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps).

The company’s SiliconServer Architecture allows Titan to adapt as application or capacity needs change, making it an attractive product for on-demand computing environments.

BlueArc competes with EMC and Network Appliance in the network-attached storage (NAS) market , which is traditionally a multi-billion-dollar market, although not as strong as the storage area network (SAN) alternative.

Schaff said BlueArc increasingly finds itself bumping up against rivals in the SAN market because of the ability of SiliconServer to penetrate enterprise accounts. BlueArc goes head-to-head with IBM, HP and Hitachi Data Systems there, Schaff said, because Titan is good for customers whose NAS systems aren’t scaling as much as they’d like.

The deal is also another win for Brocade, which continues to grab enterprise customers as it competes with Cisco Systems and McDATA in the storage networking infrastructure space.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com