Brocade announced the availability of Brocade Access Gateway for HP BladeSystem offerings. The new feature enables interoperability between Brocade blade SAN switches and products from other SAN switch and director manufacturers, while also improving SAN management and reducing costs.

Brocade Access Gateway utilizes N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology, which has been standardized by the industry's T11 Technical Committee as a method to virtualize multiple SAN devices for greater interoperability and scalability.

"Our long collaboration with HP helps us to efficiently deliver solutions that build an adaptive IT foundation for a dynamic business," said Tom Buiocchi, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Brocade. "Brocade is committed to working with HP to deliver enabling technologies that help further drive the integration of blade servers into the data center, enabling reductions in both acquisition and operating costs."

"With the availability of the Access Gateway feature for the Brocade 4 Gb SAN switches for HP BladeSystem products, HP can offer customers simpler and more interoperable SAN connectivity," said Mark Potter, vice president, BladeSystem Division, HP. "HP is pleased that Brocade, as a member of the HP Solution Builder Program, continues to innovate to help make HP BladeSystem more time-smart and change-ready."

Interoperability at the Edge of the SAN along with Simplified SAN Management
Brocade Access Gateway for HP BladeSystem c-Class and p-Class allows organizations to connect HP ProLiant and Integrity blade servers to any vendors' SAN fabric that supports NPIV, enabling devices to operate seamlessly and with full performance and functionality. The new capability also delivers increased scalability and management of enterprise SANs. The use of NPIV technology contributes to lower operational costs by allowing server and storage administrators to manage larger and more consolidated SANs with fewer switch domain counts, thereby improving overall SAN management productivity.

Brocade Access Gateway is included as a standard feature with Brocade 4Gb SAN Switches for both HP BladeSystem c-Class and p-Class and is available at no cost as a download from http://www.hp.com/ for current customers.

For more information about Brocade Access Gateway: http://www.brocade.com/products/software/AccessGateway.jsp