Brocade Outlines India Market Strategy

New Delhi 9 October 2009: Brocade Communication Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq: BRCD), the networking solutions company that enables data-intensive businesses to optimize information connectivity, informed that it is leading the networking space in Asia Pacific. In the region, Brocade commands more than 80% of the Fiber Channel Switch and more than 90% of the Fixed-port Switch market in terms of both revenue and port shipments. With the acquisition of Foundry in early 2009, the company also has a rapidly growing Ethernet footprint with a presence in 17 locations in 9 countries.

Speaking to the press, Ian Whiting, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Marketing informed that Brocade has identified India as a strategic country of focus within the Asia-Pacific region and significantly increased its’ investments and commitment to the country. In the last year alone, he informed, Brocade has doubled its employee base in the country and would do the same in the ensuing year as well. “India is a highly strategic country for the continued technology success of Brocade both in product development and engineering. Brocade has more engineers in India than anywhere else in the world outside of the United States. We have two R&D centers located in India – at Bangalore and Pune – focusing on SAN applications, FCoE/CEE applications, IP networking and ASIC design and testing. Additionally, Brocade also has sales offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, providing end to end networking solutions and services to its large customer base here,” said Whiting.

In India, Brocade markets a complete product range of storage and ethernet networking products and solutions. In addition to providing end to end products and solutions around SAN and IP Brocade also provides a common management framework for its products. To tie everything together, Brocade’s Global Services also offers professional services and world-class support to partners and customers in India.

Recently Brocade also expanded its global Alliance Partner Network with new channel programs designed to attract storage and IP networking channel resellers with more selective and profitable professional services, support, and warranty offerings. This will help Brocade identify and work with systems integrators which are able to address the enterprise space. Currently Brocade works directly with all major OEMs and is in the process of recruiting channels partners.

Elaborating on the business partnerships that Brocade has forged, Whiting said, “Partnerships are part of Brocade’s DNA, and we are committed to open standards and solutions. Globally, Brocade has invested US$ 1 billion in cooperative development and testing with partners. Brocade plans to continue diversifying its routes to market through multi-tiered channels, as well as continue its strategic partnerships with OEMs.”

In the current economic scenario managing costs and bandwidth demands continue to be the biggest challenges faced by user organizations the world over. Brocade’s 2009 customer research has revealed that the top drivers for IP Ethernet networking solutions are data growth, security, business continuity and disaster recovery. In the area of storage networking, companies are driven by the need to reduce cost, ensure business continuity and carry out virtualisation.

It is estimated that India will continue to lead the other countries with 10.2% growth in domestic IT spending projected for 2009, which would will propel a new ‘market order’ in the domestic Indian IT/ITeS industry. Most analysts have forecast a positive trend in the storage industry for India. It is estimated that network storage would grow faster than the server market. According to Indian media estimates, the network storage market grew by 25% during FY 2008-9 to reach Rs. 183.4 million, a trend that they expect the industry to maintain. A recent Gartner user survey revealed that 65% of the respondents in India plan to increase their 2009 budget for storage systems.

It is expected that by the year 2015 there will be 15 billion devices worldwide – linking people and content. As PC penetration in India goes up and the Internet and networks become more pervasive, more and more corporations, including SMBs will increasingly turn to connected facilities and offices. This represents a huge opportunity for Brocade.

More Information

For more information, please visit http://www.brocade.com/apn

About Brocade

Brocade® (Nasdaq: BRCD) develops extraordinary networking solutions that enable today’s complex, data-intensive businesses to optimize information connectivity and maximize the business value of their data. For more information, visit www.brocade.com.

About Brocade India

Brocade Communication Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. was established in India in 2004 as a subsidiary. With sales offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore, the company markets a complete product range of storage and ethernet networking products and solutions. In addition to providing end to end products and solutions around SAN and IP Brocade India also provides a common management framework for its products. To tie everything together, Brocade’s Global Services also offers professional services and world-class support to partners and customers in India.

In 2006, Brocade set up a R&D centre in Bangalore specifically to handle research, development and testing work for global customers. Today, the R&D center is staffed with 165 software engineers.

###

Brocade and the B-wing symbol are registered trademarks, and DCFM, Extraordinary Networks, and SAN Health are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.

© 2009 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.