IBM to rebrand, sell Brocade routers and switches 28 April, 2009 By Chris Talbot

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Under the agreement, IBM will sell the Brocade NetIron MLX Series routers as the IBM m-Series, the Brocade NetIron CES 2000 Series switches as the IBM c-Series, the Brocade FastIron SX Series switches as the IBM s-Series, and the Brocade FastIron GS Series switches as the IBM G-series. This pushes IBM even further ahead in the networking market, and because this will be an enterprise play, it will also create some extra competition for Cisco Systems in that market, said Michelle Warren, president of MW Research & Consulting.

"This is IBM going head-to-head-to-head with HP and Cisco," Warren said. This is a strengthening of the IBM/Brocade relationship that has existed for the last decade in relation to SANs, storage and the datacenter. That partnership has taken various forms over the years, but they have worked closely together for a long time, she said.

One interesting thing Warren noted is the timing, which coincided with an announcement from IBM and Juniper Networks that the two companies were expanding their two-year-old relationship.

Warren said that the announcements weren't surprising, as there had already been speculation that IBM would be strengthening its relationships with its networking partners.

"It does alter the landscape, and HP and Cisco are forced to respond," she said.

According to Mike Klayko, CEO of Brocade, who broadcast his thoughts on the OEM agreement on the Brocade YouTube channel, working with IBM in this way will enable IBM to simplify the datacenter.

"From an IBM perspective, what they're really focusing on is simplification of the datacenter and data access. And this gives them another product and another tool in developing those simplified solutions of data access, data management, data protection -- end-to-end, all the way from the edge of the network all the way through the storage. They are a one-stop shop for all the different products and solutions you're going to need there. It just expands those offerings available to customers and gives them choice," Klayko said.

For Brocade, this will mean an increased reach into the enterprise market segment. The company has been limited in its ability to meet with all of its potential customers because it didn't have the reach, but IBM has tremendous reach, he said. Although the products will be branded with the IBM logo, it'll give Brocade a much greater market.

As to how this will play out, Warren said we'll have to wait and see. IBM already has a networking presence, and it does have the potential to strengthen its place in the market with this OEM agreement with Brocade. Additionally, it will enable IBM to build on its cloud computing and datacenter initiatives and grow those businesses, she said. But it does put IBM in direct competition with Cisco and HP ProCurve in the enterprise space.

This agreement probably won't have much of a direct effect on IBM's channel partners, however, Warren said. Because it's at the enterprise level, the sales will probably mostly be direct, with only limited opportunities for IBM channel partners with connections to IBM Global Services, she said.

"Because these are big solution sales, there's not a lot of reseller partners that are involved with it," she said.

This is not the first time IBM has rebranded Brocade products and sold them. It already sells several Brocade datacenter networking products, including the Brocade DCX Backbone, fibre channel directors, standalone and embedded switches, host bus adapters and related software.

The Brocade routers and switches will be available through IBM in May.