Brocade Announces Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012

By Nathesh
TMCnet Contributor

Brocade (News - Alert), a provider of networking solutions, announced that its portfolio including the Fiber Channel storage area network (SAN) and Ethernet fabric solutions, now feature support for the Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows Server 2012 server operating system.

The partnership formed between Brocade and Microsoft is purported to enable SAN and IP networking solutions to support private cloud, network and server virtualization.

Brocade explained that its Fiber channel SANs feature 2, 4, 8 and 16 Gbps options, providing a range of performance solutions to match current and future data center requirements and the performance of these solutions, meet and exceed even the most rigorous application demands.

By enabling the transformation of existing storage assets into cloud-optimized storage networks, Brocade’s solutions supposedly help one safeguard their IT investments while increasing business agility and operational flexibility.

Unlike traditional hierarchical Ethernet architectures, Brocade’s Ethernet fabrics supposedly provide the higher levels of performance, utilization, availability and simplicity required to meet the business needs of data centers today and into the future.

Brocade has reportedly upgraded its SAN and Ethernet fabric switching and adapter products so that compatibility and new networking functionality are realized with the Windows Server 2012.

Brocade also now supports interoperability and integration with Microsoft System Center 2012.

Microsoft asserted that it worked closely with Brocade to offer customers with networking technologies such as software-defined networking via NVGRE and virtual Fiber Channel for more dynamic connectivity to storage resources. 

“To support next-generation cloud environments, many new networking technologies require support in the operating system to help organizations realize the full benefit of highly virtualized IT architectures,” said Jason Nolet (News - Alert), vice president of Data Center Networking Group at Brocade. “By working closely with the Microsoft engineering team in the early stages of the new OS's development, we have ensured that Brocade Ethernet and Fibre Channel fabric solutions work seamlessly with Windows Server 2012 as well as deliver innovative new networking functionality for highly virtualized, cloud-based data centers.”

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Edited by Braden Becker