Arming for battle
One thing's for sure: Brocade's rhetoric is targeted at Cisco.
Plenty of companies want to take Cisco down a notch, but most are vendors of Ethernet or IP equipment, Brocade's Lans notes. In other words, they're trying direct attacks on Cisco's own, well defended, turf.
"We're coming at it from a position of strength, from inside the data center out," Lans says.
"We're good within the four walls of the data center," but Foundry would bring Brocade beyond that point and into the wiring closet and the wide-area network.
Brocade is already in the data center, offering products for server-to-storage connectivity, and it's expanding its view to include server-to-server links. (See Brocade Busts Out HBAs & FCOE Roadmap.)
Brocade also holds solid market shares in Fibre Channel and Ficon connectivity -- two areas that are relatively new to Cisco.
While Cisco has Fibre Channel gear in the form of the MDS line from Andiamo Systems, its flagship Nexus box is focused on Ethernet and FCOE. (See Storage Must Wait for Cisco's Data Center Vision .)
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