Features - Storage Innovations:

QLOGIC, McDATA ENABLE GLOBAL, MULTI-VENDOR SANs

McDATA Corp and QLogic Corp announced a comprehensive SAN initiative to increase enablement for OEMs, channel partners and SAN administrators that are building global, multi-vendor blade server environments. Powerful functions such as interoperability from core-to-edge, virtual routing, open exchange of management data, zoning, security and partitioning are all part of the SAN initiative.

Upon completion, seamless interoperability in native McDATA mode will be available across McDATA's full product suite, including Eclipse, Sphereon and Intrepid-brand switches, and SANbox brand switches from QLogic.

"Our research on companies' future spending plans makes it clear that blade servers will play a critical role in enterprises' future data center investments, so providers of SAN switching solutions must ensure compatibility between embedded Fibre Channel switches and existing enterprise SAN solutions," said Richard Villars, vice president of storage systems at IDC. "This announcement is a clear response to customers' demands for growing and scaling their information architecture without sacrificing flexibility in selecting needed solutions."

QLogic will be the first switch vendor to interoperate with McDATA products in native mode. Based on full compliance with FC-SW standards, customers can now cost-effectively build core-to-edge global storage networks while benefiting from up-to-date hardware and software features and functionality.

"Customers want reassurance that past investments and investments they make today can answer their immediate infrastructure needs, yet address their expectations for tomorrow," said Jeff Vogel, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at McDATA. "Our technology partnership with QLogic enables on-demand data access through full interoperability while ensuring easy access to new functionality. This partnership will allow customers to deploy an architecture capable of secure access to data anytime, anywhere, and McDATA a timely entrance to new and emerging markets while focusing on our core business."

"Customers are asking QLogic for SAN routing solutions that span from core-to-edge," said Frank Berry, vice president of marketing at QLogic Corp. "The crux of QLogic and McDATA achieving switch-to-switch interoperability for global SANs is to include a wide range of switches in our global SAN initiative."

About QLogic

Since 1993, over 50 million QLogic products have shipped inside servers, workstations, RAID subsystems, tape libraries, disk and tape drives. These products were delivered to small, medium and large enterprises around the world. Powering solutions from leading companies like Cisco, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Network Appliance, Quantum, StorageTek and Sun Microsystems, the broad line of QLogic controller chips, host bus adapters, network switches and management software move data from storage devices through the network fabric to servers. A member of the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100, QLogic was named to the following during fiscal year 2004: (i) Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies list for the fourth consecutive year; (ii) Forbes' Best 200 Small Companies for the fifth consecutive year; and (iii) Business Week's list of 100 Hot Growth Companies. For more information visit www.qlogic.com.