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Brocade Takes Aim Beyond the Data Center

Brocades decision to throw down $3 billion for router specialist Foundry may spark a flurry of activity from other vendors looking for a share of the "next-gen data center."

The rationale behind the multibillion-dollar acquisition was a fairly simple one, according to Marty Lans, senior director of Brocade’s data center infrastructure group.

”This acquisition allows us to go well beyond the four data center walls,” he told Byte and Switch, describing the firm’s long-term plan to bolster its networking strategy. “It’s what we see as the other side of the data center or the other side of the server, and we can’t go there without routing capabilities.”

By spending mega-bucks on Foundry, Brocade is, of course, issuing a challenge to networking giant Cisco Systems.

”This is clearly a place where we think that we can give customers a choice in the market,” says Lans. “Today, if you want to go end-to-end, there’s only one company that lets you do that, and that’s Cisco.”

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