Brocade Advances Data Center Fabric Vision With Industry-Leading Storage Security Services and Management Solutions

High-Performance Encryption from a Single Blade or Switch Enables Customer Choice and Investment Protection for Next-Generation Data Center Security

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 22 -- Brocade(R) (NASDAQ:BRCD) today announced the availability of a new family of fabric-based encryption platforms that helps customers meet their security and corporate governance objectives by encrypting critical corporate data with high performance and centralized management. These leading-edge solutions offer an innovative approach to fabric-wide encryption for data-at-rest within the data center.

The new solutions provide customers with a choice to fit their stored data encryption space requirements: Either the standalone Brocade Encryption Switch or the Brocade FS8-18 Encryption Blade for the Brocade DCX(R) Backbone chassis. Both options provide up to 96 Gbit/sec of encryption processing power and scale quickly to meet rising customer data security demands.

Designed to protect existing data center investments, the Brocade encryption platform architecture offers integration with several leading key management products for enterprise-wide key management and data center encryption, including NetApp Lifetime Key Management and RSA(R) Key Manager for the Datacenter.

Brocade is also collaborating with other industry leaders to support these encryption and key management solutions, including planned support for HP StorageWorks Secure Key Manager.

"The amount of sensitive information continues to grow precipitously, so organizations need a broader deployment of encryption technologies across data centers in order to protect data confidentiality and privacy," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Specific to storage, these security and privacy demands require an architectural approach for enterprise-wide encryption of data-at-rest while enabling end-to-end management for the secure flow of data across multiple fabrics."

Future-Proofing Investments within the Brocade Data Center Fabric Architecture

The Brocade Encryption Switch is a high-performance, 32-port, auto-sensing 8 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel switch with high-speed encryption capabilities. The Brocade FS8-18 Encryption Blade provides the same plug-in storage security services in a 16-port blade. For easier customer deployment with lower risk, Brocade data encryption and management solutions can be implemented without disruption into the fabric and applied to specified data flows. Both platforms preserve existing and new storage investments by supporting a heterogeneous mix of networked storage systems and providing future support for virtual tape libraries and tape drives.

The encryption solutions are centrally managed and easily configured using Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM(TM)), a comprehensive network management application that enables end-to-end management of Brocade data center fabrics. Brocade DCFM enables customers to secure the flow of data across multiple fabrics by managing access controls to ensure consistent security settings across devices while incorporating end-to-end encryption of data-at-rest solutions.

The new Brocade fabric-based encryption solutions build upon the existing Brocade DCF architecture vision designed to address the evolving needs of customers to create a more efficient, adaptable, and secure data center while helping to optimize their existing data center investments. The Brocade DCF architecture supports features such as encryption as a plug-in service, enabling encryption to be flexibly applied to any application flow from a physical or virtual machine.

Complete Solutions with Brocade Professional Services

As part of deploying a comprehensive solution, customers can turn to Brocade Professional Services to help them address management, encryption, and security procedures in a holistic approach to meet compliance and regulatory requirements for encryption of data-at-rest. Brocade Professional Services can assess, design, install, and implement Brocade encryption solutions designed from an architectural, policy, and operational perspective. After the design phase, Brocade experts will install and configure the hardware into a new or existing fabric. Upon completion of the engagement, customers receive full documentation of the solution, including best practices.

About Brocade

Brocade is a leading provider of data center networking solutions that help organizations connect, share, and manage their information in the most efficient manner. Organizations that use Brocade products and services are better able to optimize their IT infrastructures and ensure compliant data management. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at http://www.brocade.com/ or contact the company at info at brocade.com.

Brocade, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, File Lifecycle Manager, MyView, and StorageX are registered trademarks, and DCFM and SAN Health are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. RSA is either a registered trademark or trademark of RSA Security Inc. in the United States and/or in other countries. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.