Brocade has started off 2007 on a high note and a flurry of activity. On January 29^th, the company completed the acquisition of McDATA Corporation, unveiled its combined product portfolio and began its roll-out of its new brand.

Commenting on the acquisition, Deb Dutta, vice president, Asia Pacific/Japan notes that the combination of Brocade and McDATA creates a world-leading storage networking company with significant benefits for customers, partners, and shareholders.

Commenting on the acquisition, Deb Dutta, vice president, Asia Pacific/Japan notes that the combination of Brocade and McDATA creates a world-leading storage networking company with significant benefits for customers, partners, and shareholders. He adds that the company plans to deliver new levels of interoperability and SAN management to protect and extend customers' investments as they evolve and grow their data centers. Also, he notes that the acquisition also brings Brocade important new skills and resources that will allow it to further broaden its range of solutions and services to its customers and OEM partners.

Dutta stresses that Brocade's corporate strategy has remained consistent and not changed in the last 3-4 years. In fact, the company is completely focused on a few key objectives:

• To absolutely dominate in SAN. "We want to lead, expand and dominate in the SAN space," emphasizes Dutta.
• Grow in adjacent spaces. "For example, blade servers are proliferating in the SAN space. There are huge market opportunities here and Brocade has evolved in this area. To date, every blade server manufacturer has Brocade components/technology in place and we are committed to continue to grow and excel in this space," says Dutta.
• Ramping up in the services arena.
• Go into new networking areas which they have previously never been in (for example, the File Area Network - FAN - space). Like the services arena, this is a strategy the company has been actively pursuing and engaging in since last year.

"We have grown to understand that fibre channeling is not the way to connect, just a means. Unlike a few years ago, we are no longer simply a fibre data/channel company. Brocade is dedicated to the business of connecting the world's data-and this means-anyplace, anytime as well as any type of data. This has been our strategy for some years now," Dutta elaborates.

He continues, "McDATA is a manifestation of this strategy. The acquisition strengthens Brocade in the Layer 2 storage area and also in the wide area connectivity of mainframe boxes. In addition, it significantly broadens our offerings. Our product roadmap is very important to us, our partners and our customers. A lot of analysis has been put in to see which products we will continue and which will be dropped. These decisions were made after talking to both partners and customers. If we discontinue products, partners will be given a 6-months notice period to work with. In addition, we will still continue to provide support on the product for 5 years. We will also provide for interoperability and look to create convergence in all our products. Our aim is to ensure that no-one gets left-behind."

"Every relationship/engagement has a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) including channels, most of which is not visible. Our acquisition of McDATA creates a critical mass. It's still the same technology, but with a much broader scale of offerings," Dutta adds.

In addition, Dutta notes that partners of both Brocade and McDATA will benefit significantly. "Partners have always been important to both Brocade and McDATA and we both have had strong, competent channel programs. We will maintain both for a period of time and will look to merge them in time and when the time is right. We are committed to ensuring that in this process of integration, McDATA partners are not disadvantaged. We know and understand that channel programs are hard to build and even harder to close, so we want to do this properly."

According to Dutta, the company's channel strategy will not see major changes. "We will stick to our existing channel framework/eco-system of our OEMs', channel partners who are pure Brocade and those who are pure McDATA-with a strong focus on training for both sides- and we will also have partners who concentrate on our hybrid products."

He points out that while there is no definite timeline to the merger of both companies' programs, the program that supersedes this will not be something completely new but will be tweaked to incorporate aspects of both programs.

He also notes that the acquisition has been well-accepted by both Brocade and McDATA's partners in the Asia Pacific region, as well as globally. Elaborating on this, Dutta says, "The Layer 2 storage marketplace is an approximately US$1.8 billion addressable market. Having 3 big players was too much, two is best. After all, for every additional vendor, TCO comes into play. McDATA's technology helps Brocade to better connect to the world's data, especially in the mainframe arena."

Commenting on the new brand of Brocade, Dutta remarks that the timing for the ‘new look' of the company is perfect. "Two years ago, we were known simply as a provider of SANs. Now we are a different and deeper company. We have added on a lot more and want to be recognized as more vibrant. We want to impress upon the industry, our customers and partners that we have the passion to lead, innovate and perform. At the same time, we are also dedicated to our mission of ‘One team, One culture and, One mission'. It is a bold and refreshing new look that symbolizes a dynamic new era for the company. Our streamlined, re-vamped look reflects our commitment to creative thinking, continued innovation, and a fresh and focused perspective on helping our customers, partners and the industry transform business."

Bearing this in mind, we'll be keeping a close eye on Brocade which is sure to have a stellar year ahead. ◊