EMC Corporation today announced an expansion of its EMC® Connectrix® family of enterprise-class directors, switchesand management tools. These enhancements will further help customers consolidate their networked storage systems, improve total cost of ownership and tier their storage environments as they implement an information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy. The new Connectrix ED-48000B Fibre Channel enterprise director and the ports-on-demand scalability of the Connectrix DS-220B Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) switch, based on Brocade technology, are available today.

The Connectrix ED-48000B director provides key capabilities that meet a full spectrum of mission-critical requirements for enterprise SAN environments. The Connectrix DS-220B switch provides an affordable, scalable single-switch solution for new small SANs or existing SANs being upgraded with newer technology. With 4 gigabit-per-second (Gbit/sec) Fibre Channel data transfer rates and innovative ports-on-demand scalability, these technologies provide customers with high performance, excellent investment protection and increased flexibility in their networked storage environments.

Based on the Brocade SilkWorm 48000 director, the Connectrix ED-48000B scales non-disruptively from 32-256 concurrently active 4 Gbit/sec full-duplex ports in a single domain. Its reliable, high-availability capabilities for enterprise resource management and high-volume transaction processing applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and data warehousing. The Connectrix ED-48000B director integrates with heterogeneous environments and supports multiple operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX and AIX.

The 4 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel Connectrix DS-220B switch is based on the Brocade SilkWorm 200E technology and can be used as a primary SAN switch as well as an edge switch in departments and branch offices. It consists of 8-16 ports on demand – for pay-as-you-grow scalability – and features the EZSwitchSetup wizard for enhanced manageability. With the Connectrix DS-220B, organizations can enjoy the advantages of low-cost device connectivity and other capabilities that make SAN technology highly accessible and affordable.

"ILM helps improve ROI and lower the total cost of ownership of an organization's information infrastructure. EMC is committed to helping customers save more money by providing new ways to consolidate and manage their storage," said Tom Joyce, EMC Vice President of Storage Platforms Marketing. "The EMC Connectrix ED-48000B director and Connectrix DS-220B switch bring next-generation data rates and pay-as-you-grow scalability to today's storage networks."

"Brocade and EMC are committed to developing advanced technologies for the data center to help drive a more dynamic business environment," said Tom Buiocchi, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Support at Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. "We're pleased that EMC is making our full line of 4 Gbit/sec SAN solutions available to its users who want to maximize their data availability and set a foundation for future growth."

Visit http://www.emc.com/products/networking/connectrix.jsp for more information.