San Diego Super Computer Center Selects Brocade HBA

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. announced continued market momentum for the Brocade 815 and 825 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) as demonstrated by continued customer adoption as well as a number of key partner certifications enabled through the newly launched Brocade Server Connectivity Certification Program.

Facts on San Diego Super Computer Center (SDSC)

• SDSC, one of the nation’s leading academic high-performance computing centers, is the main data repository for the TeraGrid, the largest open scientific discovery infrastructure linking compute resources among 11 partner sites in the U.S.;
• Based at the University of California, San Diego, SDSC currently hosts a 4.4-teraflop IA 64 Linux cluster, 36 petabytes of archival tape storage, 3 petabytes of online disk storage, 1 petabyte of General Parallel File System mounted across the TeraGrid, and is connected to the other national TeraGrid partners by a 20-Gbps cross-country backbone;
• SDSC manages a SAN infrastructure that is 100 percent Brocade along with a mix of storage resources from HDS, Sun, IBM and Data Direct;
• Simplifying SAN management is a top priority for SDSC. This was a key factor in SDSC’s decision to deploy a mix of Brocade 815/825 HBAs;
• SDSC can take advantage of either Brocade Host Connectivity Manager (HCM) native GUI or Command Line Interface (CLI) tools to configure and monitor its HBAs as part of its unified, end-to-end management strategy;
• SDSC now also has the foundation to leverage N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) and Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities to implement end-to-end services across next-generation data centers.

“As one of the founding supercomputer sites in the TeraGrid large-scale infrastructure for open scientific research, we are always striving to deploy the best available, data center-class storage and storage network solutions. SDSC’s decision to use Brocade HBAs was based on our need to simplify operations, which they have delivered through products that are easy to deploy and administer. Overall, we have been impressed with user experience in our deployment of the Brocade HBAs as part of our Brocade SAN.”, said Haisong Cai, SAN Engineer, SDSC

Brocade Server Connectivity Certification Program

• Program provides Brocade partners and developers the tools and resources to test compatibility of the Brocade HBA with their products and optionally, any installed Brocade switches, operating systems, and advanced fabric services;
• Program participants receive a Brocade-supplied test plan, which guides partners through the testing of their products at their location. This test plan can be used as a guide to test all the advanced features within a Brocade HBA in correlation with any existing test criteria;
• Upon completion of the testing, the test results are sent to the Brocade Server Connectivity Certified team for analysis to determine the solution’s eligibility for inclusion in the Brocade Compatibility Matrix as "Compatible";
• Program emphasizes new levels of functionality for customers with integrated solutions demonstrating enhanced management, virtualization and performance capabilities.

Latest Certifications
Brocade has certified the following companies and their respective products as compatible under the parameters of the Brocade Server Connectivity Certification Program:

Cloverleaf – iSN Storage System
“Cloverleaf Communications’ highly successful Intelligent Storage Networking Management System (iSN) achieved certification with the latest Brocade HBAs via the Brocade Server Connectivity Certification (SCC) Program. The close support and high responsiveness of the Brocade team made the process easy and minimized the effort required," said Joseph Klein, co-founder and COO, Cloverleaf Communications.

DataCore – SANmelody Software
“DataCore is pleased to participate in the Brocade Server Connectivity Certification program and to have the opportunity to certify our products with the new 4 and 8 Gbps HBA offerings from Brocade. The Brocade HBAs will broaden the number of options that our customers and partners will have available to them to design and deliver high-performance SANs," said John Bocskor, vice president of product development, DataCore Software.

EMC
“EMC and Brocade have a long history of delivering solutions for data center customers. EMC’s E-Lab continues to work with Brocade to qualify 4 Gbps and 8 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA solutions for our joint customers. Working together with Brocade, we’ll enable enterprises to build high performance storage infrastructures for today’s demanding virtualized environments," said Carolyn Muise, Senior Director E-Lab Integration & Interoperability, EMC Corporation.

LSI – Engenio Storage Group
"Our strong relationship with Brocade and participation in their 8 Gbps HBA program is a key element of our next-generation storage product strategy. With the ability to conduct interoperability certifications with the very latest solutions from Brocade, a critical partner in the Fibre Channel ecosystem, we’re able to optimize the reliability and performance of our broad family of LSI Engenio® networked storage systems for our OEM customers and end-users of their branded products," said Julie Ryan, director of alliances, Engenio Storage Group, LSI Corporation.

Novell – SUSE Linux Enterprise 11
“SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 delivers interoperability and mission-critical support for your physical and virtual data center. Brocade worked closely with the Novell team to qualify and deliver a SLES 11 inbox driver that will deliver the innovation customers need to build an agile, next-generation IT infrastructure while contributing to the open source community ongoing success," said Michael Applebaum, senior product marketing manager for SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Oracle
“Oracle and Brocade collaborate in many areas including key aspects of the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program and Oracle VM server virtualization. Together Oracle and Brocade have delivered several validated configurations that help speed deployment for Oracle Unbreakable Linux support customers. Additionally, we are working together to enhance and integrate Oracle VM server virtualization with Brocade’s advanced features in HBA and storage fabric. As a result, Oracle and Brocade are able to provide our customers with higher performance and more scalable Linux and virtualized environments to run demanding enterprise applications," said Monica Kumar, senior director Linux and Open Source Product Marketing, Oracle.

Sun – Solaris 10
"Sun is pleased to be a part of Brocade’s Server Connectivity Certification program. This enhances Sun’s Solaris Ready certification program and provides assurance to our mutual customers seeking to obtain the best performance and reliability for their business critical systems," said Cynthia Hardenbrook, Director of ISV Engineering and Solaris Ready at Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Symantec – CommandCentral Storage 5.1
“Symantec is excited to participate in Brocade’s Server Connectivity Certification Program and qualify our industry recognized storage solutions with Brocade’s full complement of 8 Gbps directors, switches and HBAs. We are committed to providing our enterprise customers with flexible, heterogeneous solutions for their complex data center environments. Working with Brocade in this capacity helps deliver innovative storage management capabilities to our mutual enterprise customers so they can maximize the return on their infrastructure investment," said Yogesh Agrawal, vice president of Symantec’s CommandCentral Product Group.

VMware
"Certification for HBAs is important to customers as they look for trusted storage switching solutions that can work with VMware virtualization to help them on their journey to cloud computing. Brocade Fibre Channel HBAs are a great complement to the VMware platform, providing end-to-end SAN management and enhanced Fibre Channel fabric services," said Shekar Ayyar, vice president of infrastructure alliances at VMware.

Xiotech – Emprise and Magnitude 3D Storage Systems
“We’re excited to be a part of the Brocade Server Connectivity Certification program and to actively participate in delivering industry-leading technology solutions. The program ensures top storage solutions for our customers, including Brocade products, with the assurance of compatibility and interoperability," said Mike Hoch, vice president of marketing at Xiotech.

Xyratex – RAID and Networked Storage Solutions
"Xyratex has been working with Brocade for many years and we are excited to expand our relationship further as part of the Brocade Server Connectivity Certification program. As the first company to deliver 8 Gbps Fibre Channel RAID arrays on the market, the certifications with Brocade HBAs, SAN switches and directors were keys for our successful product launch. Our mutual customers will continue to benefit from our innovation and market leading solutions," said Dale Lafferty, director, marketing & alliances at Xyratex.