Brocade, Dell partner on industry’s first 16 Gbps Fiber channel solution

Brocade, a leader in fabric-based data center networking solutions, has announced its contribution to offering the industry’s first complete, end-to-end 16 Gbps Fiber Channel solution with Dell Compellent, from servers to switches and storage. Virtualized data centers have a lot to gain from the solution as it doubles bandwidth for business critical applications.
Brocade announced availability of the Brocade M6505 16 Gbps FC embedded SAN I/O module by Dell. With this Dell PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosures can directly connect to the higher bandwidth-capable Compellent storage arrays.
The end-to-end 16 Gbps FC solution includes new enhancements to Dell Compellent SC8000 storage arrays, including a next-generation 16 Gbps Fiber Channel IO module for the array, along with the new Dell Compellent Storage Center 6.3 software.
Brocade says in light of cloud and virtualization, the demand for storage is growing exponentially in parallel with increased adoption of 16 Gbps-based SAN products. The availability of end-to-end Dell Compellent 16 Gbps storage solutions will further this trend.
As a result of Brocade’s new SAN solutions, customers get the benefit of second-generation inter-chassis links that enable flatter, faster, and simpler fabrics with fewer cables that increase consolidation. Network complexity and costs are also reduced. Diagnostic Ports (D Ports) help network administrators to quickly identify and isolate optics and cable problems.
The Brocade M6505 SAN I/O module provides exceptional price/performance value and enterprise-class functionality for Dell PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosures. It is configurable in 12 or 24 ports and supports 4, 8 or 16 Gbps speeds. It complements other members of the Brocade SAN family offered by Dell, which includes the Brocade 6510 Switch, configurable between 24 and 48 ports, and the Brocade DCX® 8510 Backbone, available in 4- and 8-slot configurations.