EXHIBIT 99.1
[EMULEX LOGO] [BROCADE LOGO]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EMULEX PRESS CONTACT: BROCADE PRESS CONTACT:
Robin Austin Leslie Davis
Sr. Manager, Public Relations Director, Public Relations
(714) 885-3462 650-333-5260
robin.austin@emulex.com lmdavis@brocade.com
EMULEX AND BROCADE EXPAND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO
FURTHER SIMPLIFY SAN DEPLOYMENT
Companies to Deliver Industry First Multi-Vendor Management Wizard for Fast and
Simple Installation and Management of Emulex HBAs and Brocade Switches
COSTA MESA, CALIF., and SAN JOSE, CALIF., September 27, 2004--Emulex Corporation
(NYSE: ELX), the market leader in Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) and
embedded storage switches, and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
(NASDAQ:BRCD), the world's leading provider of infrastructure solutions for
Storage Area Networks (SANs), today announced an agreement to expand a
multi-year strategic partnership to further simplify the deployment of SANs in
enterprise, midrange and the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) market
segments.
As part of the agreement, Emulex and Brocade will co-develop an industry first
multi-vendor SAN management wizard. This tool will integrate the installation
and management of both Emulex HBAs and Brocade SilkWorm switches into a single,
easy-to-use interface.
Both Emulex and Brocade recently launched Fibre Channel SAN connectivity
products specially designed for SMB business environments faced with managing
rapid data growth. Following on their commitment to deliver simple and
affordable SANs to SMBs, Emulex and Brocade are working together to make SAN
deployment seamless for the
end user. Emulex and Brocade also have a mutual end user customer base in the
enterprise and midrange sectors and will leverage their work to expand use of
the two companies' products beyond the data center - for use in departmental
SANs and other applications throughout the corporate infrastructure.
"This expanded partnership enables both Emulex and Brocade to provide a new
level of value add to customers in search of simple and affordable storage
networking solutions," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide
marketing, Emulex Corp. "Our co-development of the first multi-vendor SAN
management wizard is just the beginning of our new initiatives with Brocade to
reduce the cost and complexity associated with storage area networks."
"Brocade continues to work closely with Emulex to identify new ways for
improving the value, ease-of-use, and ease-of-administration associated with
storage area network infrastructure products," said Tom Buiocchi, Brocade's vice
president of worldwide marketing. "As market leaders, it is critical that we
pave the way for further simplification of SAN deployment and management, so SMB
customers may benefit from the cost and operational savings that SAN-based
solutions have provided for larger enterprises."
The two companies will cooperatively market their products to channel partners
that are currently bundling the Emulex LightPulse HBAs and Brocade SilkWorm
switches. The integrated installation wizard will provide an easy-to-use
installation suite for both companies' products that will save customers both
time and money.
The two companies also announced a three-year litigation standstill agreement,
whereby Emulex and Brocade have dismissed without prejudice claims and
counterclaims against each other in a case entitled Vixel Corporation v. Brocade
Communications Systems. Emulex acquired Vixel in November 2003. The companies
separately have filed 8K statements with the US Securities and Exchange
Commission related to the litigation standstill agreement.
ABOUT BROCADE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS, INC.
Brocade offers the industry's leading intelligent platform for networking
storage. The world's leading systems, applications, and storage vendors have
selected Brocade to provide a networking foundation for their SAN solutions. The
Brocade SilkWorm family of fabric switches and software is designed to optimize
data availability and storage and server resources in the enterprise. Using
Brocade solutions, companies can simplify SAN implementation, reduce the total
cost of ownership of data storage environments, and improve network and
application efficiency. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at
www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.
ABOUT EMULEX
Emulex Corporation is the world leader in Fibre Channel HBAs and delivers a
broad range of intelligent building blocks for next generation storage
networking systems. Emulex was named one of FORBES Magazine's 25 Fastest Growing
Technology Companies, and ranked number 15 in Deloitte & Touche's 2003
Technology Fast 50.
The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex HBAs, embedded
storage switching and I/O controller products to build reliable, scalable and
high performance storage solutions. The Emulex award-winning product families,
including its LightPulse(TM) HBAs and InSpeed(TM) embedded storage switching
products, are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software
technologies, and offer customers high performance, scalability, flexibility and
reduced total cost of ownership. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa
Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation
are available at http://www.emulex.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth
above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties.
Emulex and Brocade ("the Companies") wish to caution readers that a number of
important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the extent to which this
agreement will result in reduced cost and complexity associated with SANs, the
Companies' ability to develop an installation wizard which will provide an
easy-to-use installation suite that will save customers time and money, the
rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent
introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in
the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or
changes in end-user demand for technology solutions;
fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the
markets for the Companies' products; the Companies' ability to gain market
acceptance for its products; the companies' ability to attract and retain
skilled personnel; the companies' reliance on third-party suppliers. These and
other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the companies' filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on
Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q.
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BROCADE, THE BROCADE B WEAVE LOGO, FABRIC OS, SECURE FABRIC OS, AND SILKWORM ARE
REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF BROCADE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS, INC., IN THE UNITED
STATES AND/OR IN OTHER COUNTRIES. FICON IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF IBM
CORPORATION IN THE U.S. AND 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.
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