Releases

posted on 16 June 2008 14:27

Brocade® (Nasdaq: BRCD), the leader in data centre networking solutions that help enterprises connect and manage their information, today announced that KPN, the largest communication service provider in the Netherlands, has deployed two Brocade DCX™ Backbones in its Rotterdam data centre and plans to deploy four more in a mirrored facility in Groningen.

The new technology will help KPN support growth in data traffic and storage requirements within the data centre as the company expands its Internet traffic, e-mail traffic, and online storage services associated with the company’s new country-wide IP fibre-based network.

KPN’s new IP-based services will allow more customers to share larger files, driving the demand for greater bandwidth requirements and the need to expand its existing Brocade-based data centre infrastructure.

“As we needed more capacity to support the expected growth, we turned to Brocade for its new Brocade DCX Backbone,” says Germar Braam, Lead Architect at KPN. “The main reason for selecting Brocade was its best-in-class technology. The Brocade DCX Backbone is the fastest solution available and will seamlessly integrate with our existing infrastructure. This means we can deploy the Brocade DCX platforms without the need for additional investments in people and training. Two systems are deployed in Rotterdam with an additional four to be implemented at a mirrored site in Groningen.”

The Brocade DCX Backbone plays a key role in delivering on the vision of the Brocade Data Center Fabric (DCF) architecture. This strategic architecture provides customers with a low-risk way to transform their data centre infrastructures for maximum performance, flexibility, and investment protection, while enabling important industry trends such as greater server virtualisation and greener data centres.

“The Brocade DCX will not only serve KPN’s immediate business needs, but those of the future too. It’s the only platform that has been engineered to provide a smooth transition to future technologies, such as Converged Enhanced Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet without the need to rip and replace our core network infrastructure,” said Braam.

“As bandwidth demands continue to grow, service providers like KPN must have fast and reliable networking solutions to meet the demands of their large customer base,” said Ulrich Plechschmidt, Brocade Vice President of EMEA Sales. “We are excited about the fast adoption of the new Brocade DCX Backbone. This illustrates that Brocade is at the forefront of data centre innovation with proven and reliable technology.”

About KPN

KPN provides high-quality telephone, Internet, and television services and products and is an all-around provider of ICT services. Consumers in the Netherlands take fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and TV from KPN. Business customers use KPN’s entire array of innovative and reliable services. They include everything from telephony, Internet, and data traffic/management all the way through to the management of ICT services. In Germany, Belgium, and elsewhere in Western Europe, the services of the KPN group consist mainly of mobile telephony.

At year-end 2007, KPN had more than 35.3 million customers across the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. They include 27 million with a mobile phone, 5.4 million with a wireline, 2.4 million with broadband Internet access, and 0.5 million with TV. The number of FTEs at KPN stood at 25,500 at year-end 2007, plus another 18,000 at Getronics. KPN made a profit of €2.5 billion in 2007 on annual sales of €12.6 billion.

About Brocade

Brocade is the leading provider of data center networking solutions that help organizations connect, share, and manage their information in the most efficient manner. Organizations that use Brocade products and services are better able to optimize their IT infrastructures and ensure compliant data management. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at www.brocade.com or contact the company at info@brocade.com.

^{[Formatted by Paul Warren.]}