Westcon Group Teams with Brocade to Support Customers' Transition to Next-Generation Data Centers

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Westcon Group, a value-added distributor of category-leading unified communications, infrastructure, data center, and security solutions with a global network of specialty resellers, today announced the expansion of its relationship with Brocade.  Effective immediately, Westcon will now offer resellers access to Brocade's entire Storage Area Network (SAN) portfolio in key markets worldwide -- including the company's first fabric-based, end-to-end networking solutions based on industry-leading 16 gigabits per second (Gbps) Fibre Channel technologies.

Today's announcement builds upon a current agreement to distribute Brocade's network infrastructure products -- including the IP/Ethernet networking portfolio.  Together, the company's IP/Ethernet networking and SAN products are the foundation for Brocade One – an innovative approach to designing networks and helping customers smoothly transition to a world where information and applications reside anywhere.

"Over the past several years, we've built a strong working partnership with Brocade – quickly becoming one of the company's 'go-to' global distributors.  Today's announcement is a natural extension of this relationship," said Patty Gray, Vice President, Global Vendor Relationships, Westcon Group.  "The ability to distribute both Brocade IP/Ethernet and SAN offerings is a major milestone for us, immediately solidifying our leadership in the fast-growing distribution market for next-generation data center technology."

As the core technology underlying today's networks, SAN is widely considered one of the most important technologies of the next decade.  According to leading analysts, the SAN switch market could triple over the next 4 years.

"At Brocade, we're committed to helping our partners deliver cloud-optimized networking solutions to facilitate the smooth transition to a virtualized world," said Barbara Spicek, Vice President of Global Channels at Brocade.  "Westcon is clearly one of the market's leading distributors, offering resellers access to some of the best data center technologies in the world, as well as deep networking expertise.  As customers begin to adopt cloud architectures – private, hybrid or public – resellers will surely benefit from the level of support and technical know-how that Brocade and Westcon can offer."

Further demonstrating its commitment to Brocade, Westcon also announced plans to incorporate these solutions in Westcon's LEAP (Learn, Experience, Architect and Plan) Centers-of-Excellence.  These environments are designed to provide value-added resellers a facility for hands-on training, technology demonstration, and briefing center capabilities across a broad range of solutions targeted at next-generation, virtualized data centers.

Brocade offers a range of networking solutions, delivering industry-leading capabilities for storage, Ethernet and converged networking.  Newly-added Brocade products to Westcon's distribution line include:

• 16 Gbps Fibre Channel Portfolio: Brocade Fibre Channel backbones, switches, and adapters are the ideal foundation for virtualized data centers and private cloud architectures. This new end-to-end 16Gbps Fibre Channel portfolio includes the Brocade DCX® 8510 Backbone, the Brocade 6510 Switch, the Brocade 1860 Fabric Adapter, Brocade Network Advisor 11.1 management software and the Brocade Fabric OS® 7.0 operating system.
• Ethernet Fabric Switches: The Brocade VDX 6720 Data Center Switches are specifically designed to improve network utilization, maximize application availability, increase scalability, and dramatically simplify network architecture in virtualized data centers. Brocade VDX 6720 data center switches play a fundamental role in building data center Ethernet fabrics – revolutionizing the design of Layer 2 networks and providing an intelligent foundation for cloud computing.
• 8 Gbps Fibre Channel Portfolio:   Industry-leading Brocade 8 Gbps backbones, switches, and adapters provide the simplest, most efficient, and most scalable network infrastructure to support the growth of virtualized environments. Included are special-purpose blades that enable data-at-rest encryption, SAN extension, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) fabric-based services.
• Brocade Network Advisor: The industry's first unified network management solution for data, storage, application delivery, wireless, and converged networks, Brocade Network Advisor supports Fibre Channel SANs, FCoE, IP switching and routing, and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks – providing end-to-end visibility across different network types through a seamless and unified user experience.
• SAN Transceivers:  Optical transceiver modules that plug into Brocade switches,  backbones, HBAs, and CNAs to deliver Fibre Channel connectivity that satisfies a wide range of speed and distance requirements.

The entire Brocade networking portfolio is available now from Westcon.  For more information, please visit www.westcongroup.com or visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/westcongroup.  You may also listen to Westcon's Bill Corbin discuss the expanded partnership, http://www.youtube.com/embed/VnTsLV-vBV4

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is a value added distributor of category-leading unified communications, infrastructure and security solutions with a global network of specialty resellers.  Westcon's teams create unique programs and provide exceptional support to accelerate the business of its global partners.  Strong relationships at every level of the Westcon Group organization enable partners to receive support tailored to their needs.  From global logistics and flexible customized financing solutions to pre-sales, technical and engineering assistance, the company works with partners to respond with agility and speed to changing market conditions so they can achieve the fastest time to revenue.  Westcon Group's portfolio of market-leading vendors includes:  Brocade, Cisco, Juniper Networks, F5, Avaya, Polycom, Check Point, and Blue Coat.  For more information, please visit www.westcongroup.com.

Media Contact:
Craig Librett
Westcon Group
(914) 357-1747
[email protected]

SOURCE Westcon Group