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Telecommunications equipment industry

Amdahl Corporation and McDATA Corporation Form Alliance for Fibre Channel Storage Area Network Solutions

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Amdahl Corporation, a leading provider of integrated enterprise computing solutions, and McDATA Corporation, a company renowned for its enterprise-class Fibre Channel directors and switches, have joined forces to deliver cutting-edge, high-availability Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions for data centers. This strategic alliance aims to help customers reduce costs and enhance the manageability of their growing IS resources through server and storage consolidation, any-to-any connectivity, extended cabling distances, fault-tolerant operation, and proactive service capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

  • The alliance combines Amdahl's high-end storage solution expertise with McDATA's market leadership in providing enterprise-class switching products.
  • Amdahl adds McDATA's ED-5000 Enterprise Fibre Channel Director and EFC Management software to its SAN strategy, providing customers with a robust, highly available data center-class switching solution.
  • The joint solution offers features such as server and storage consolidation, any-to-any connectivity, extended cabling distances, fault-tolerant operation, proactive service capabilities, centralized connectivity management, and high aggregate bandwidth.
  • McDATA's Director is the only Fibre Channel switching device that offers high-availability operation, robust centralized management, and dynamic connectivity between 32 ports.
  • The combined solution includes Amdahl storage subsystems such as LVS and Spectris, along with Global Information Sharing software in thoroughly tested SAN configurations, to provide a cost-effective and robust SAN solution.
  • The alliance positions Amdahl as a leader in the SAN marketplace by providing a concrete solution for deploying SANs that lower costs and improve management productivity.

Statistics:

  • McDATA has shipped more than 700,000 fiber optic ports.
  • McDATA is the leading supplier of enterprise-class directors and switches to major server and storage vendors.
  • Amdahl Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, with revenues of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998.
  • Amdahl has over 25 years of experience with large-scale computing solutions and client/server technology.

Sources:

  • "Amdahl Corporation Announces Alliance with McDATA Corporation to Provide Complete, High-Availability Fibre Channel Storage Area Network Solutions for the Data Center." Amdahl Corporation Press Release, Tuesday, date not specified.
  • "McDATA Corporation FulpPaks." McDATA Corporation White Paper, date not specified.
  • "Fujitsu Limited Annual Report 1998." Fujitsu Limited, March 31, 1998.

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