McDATA Corporation Announces Blade Server Switch Module Co-Developed with QLogic

Strategic Insights -

McDATA Corporation, a leading provider of storage networking solutions, has announced its blade server switch module, co-developed with QLogic. This module will provide IBM eServer BladeCenter customers with a secure, reliable, and stable large fabric connectivity solution. The module is expected to be available in May 2005, allowing customers to integrate blade servers into their core McDATA data centers. This development responds to customer demand for a McDATA storage fabric option in the BladeCenter.

Key Takeaways:

  • The McDATA/QLogic embedded switch module for the IBM eServer BladeCenter is a collaborative solution that allows IBM to respond to customer demand for a McDATA storage fabric option.
  • The module comes standard with advanced features for the enterprise, including interoperability, open exchange of management data, zoning, partitioning, and security.
  • The market is seeing explosive growth in blade server environments due to increased economies in cost of acquisition, improved management, and space efficiency.
  • McDATA is seeing many of its top customers moving toward blade server environments to leverage the cost savings that blade servers bring.
  • The McDATA/QLogic switch module provides six ports, three times the number of ports as competitive embedded switch solutions.
  • Enterprise customers have come to rely on and trust McDATA as the cornerstone of their enterprise data center environments.
  • The module has been tested to work in large port count, large storage environments, which rely on McDATA as their strategic partner for data center operations.

Statistics:

  • McDATA is trusted in the world's largest data centers, connecting more than two-thirds of all networked data.
  • Over 50 million QLogic products have shipped inside servers, workstations, RAID subsystems, tape libraries, disk and tape drives since 1993.
  • QLogic controller chips, host bus adapters, network switches, and management software moving data from storage devices through the network fabric to servers.
  • McDATA has been named to the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100.

Sources:

  • "McDATA Corporation (Nasdaq:MCDTA) (Nasdaq:MCDT)"
  • http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/bladecenter/index.html
  • www.mcdata.com
  • www.qlogic.com