Brocade Demonstrates Industry's First Service-Oriented Orchestration Combining OpenStack and Ethernet Fabric Technologies

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Brocade Demonstrates Industry's First Service-Oriented Orchestration Combining OpenStack and Ethernet Fabric Technologies

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Exhibits Critical Technology for the Cloud Management Layer Within Software-Defined Networks

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 26, 2012) - Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) today announced that it has demonstrated the first service-oriented orchestration in the industry through a solutions approach using OpenStack software and Ethernet fabric technologies.

Specifically, Brocade is leveraging a customized plug-in for OpenStack Quantum to build a prototype that delivers cloud management capabilities for best-in-class Ethernet fabrics deployed in public and private cloud environments. According to the OpenStack Foundation, "Quantum is an OpenStack project to provide 'network connectivity as a service' between interface devices (e.g., vNICs) managed by other OpenStack services."

This prototype reflects an ongoing commitment by Brocade to offer industry-standard and flexible architectures as well as demonstrating how Brocade extensions enable OpenStack to orchestrate both physical and logical networking resources as part of a virtual machine (VM) deployment to support multitiered application topologies.

Support of OpenStack software helps users build scalable cloud infrastructures in the most efficient, simple and flexible way possible. Brocade is demonstrating OpenStack Quantum support for Brocade® VCS® Fabric technology using RESTful APIs. In the future, Brocade ADX® and Brocade MLX® solutions will also support OpenStack, helping enterprises and service providers orchestrate cloud management within a single data center or across multiple data centers.

Brocade, along with OpenStack, plans to enable the full range of benefits promised by open and interoperable cloud architectures. A member of the OpenStack alliance since 2011, Brocade has embraced this open source cloud platform as part of its cloud architecture strategy and is optimizing its networking portfolio for OpenStack.

"Our commitment to the OpenStack Foundation is testament to our company's support of open technologies for managing the entire lifecycle of the cloud. Brocade is committed to an open framework for management and orchestration, in order to promote multivendor and system-to-system interoperability for all cloud environments," said Ken Ross, director of product management, Brocade.

Transitioning to a cloud computing environment promises many benefits, including greater economies of scale and improved application deployment velocity. With these benefits come new challenges, including the need to control and reconfigure networking infrastructure to support the dynamic application environment as virtual workloads move throughout the networking infrastructure.

Many organizations are turning to cloud orchestration solutions to overcome these issues. Yet proprietary solutions can lead to vendor lock-in -- reducing flexibility, increasing cost and often inhibiting the network's ability to scale as business needs evolve. As a result, proprietary solutions can limit an organization's ability to achieve the very benefits the cloud offers. An open solution, in contrast, not only supports business objectives, but also creates a foundation for growth, ongoing operational flexibility and innovation.

OpenStack software, from the OpenStack Foundation, is an open solution and the enabling technology for the cloud management layer within software-defined networking (SDN). OpenStack software allows for cloud orchestration with a high level of abstraction, while focusing on service provisioning and multi-tenant policy management. Aligned with Brocade's vision for SDN, articulated at the company's Analyst and Technology Day, Brocade is a corporate sponsor of the OpenStack Foundation.

"With Brocade's rich heritage of networking innovation and involvement with OpenStack, we look forward to helping accelerate the evolution towards robust, cloud-based solutions by contributing to that open source community. Brocade now has a cloud lab where we are showcasing a prototype built with Brocade VCS Fabric technology that demonstrates fabric-level, service-oriented orchestration through OpenStack," said Ross.

Additional Assets:

Brocade OpenStack vision brief:
http://www.brocade.com/forms/getFile?p=documents/solution_briefs/brocade-openstack-sb.pdf

Brocade on OpenStack video:
http://brcd.it/on24TechDay

Tags: OpenStack, Brocade, VDX, VCS, SDN, MLX, ADX

About Brocade

Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) networking solutions help the world's leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. (www.brocade.com)