Brocade Communications Systems

Brocade Communications Systems was a prominent American technology company specializing in data center and storage area network (SAN) networking equipment. Founded in 1995, it became a leading supplier of Fibre Channel switches and directors, playing a pivotal role in the evolution of enterprise data storage infrastructure. The company expanded into Ethernet networking for data centers and was ultimately acquired by Broadcom Inc. in 2017, with its products and technologies integrated into Broadcom's portfolio.

History

Brocade was founded in 1995 in San Jose, California by Seth Neiman, Paul Bonderson, and Kumar Malavalli, a pioneer in Fibre Channel technology. The company's early focus was on developing switching technology for the nascent storage area network market, which was gaining traction as an alternative to direct-attached storage. A significant milestone was the 1999 initial public offering on the NASDAQ under the symbol BRCD, which provided capital for rapid expansion. Throughout the early 2000s, Brocade solidified its market leadership in Fibre Channel switches, competing with companies like Cisco Systems and McDATA. The company navigated the dot-com bubble and later expanded its vision beyond SANs into converged data center networking, leading to strategic shifts and acquisitions in the Ethernet space.

Products and services

Brocade's core product line historically centered on Fibre Channel fabric switches and directors, such as the SilkWorm and DCX series, which were foundational to enterprise SAN deployments. With the acquisition of Foundry Networks in 2008, Brocade added a comprehensive portfolio of high-performance Ethernet switches, routers, and application delivery controllers, including the BigIron and NetIron families. The company later developed the VDX series of switches for Ethernet fabric architectures and the MLX series core routers. Its software offerings included the Network Advisor management suite and the Brocade Fabric OS, which provided critical control and automation for its hardware platforms across both storage networking and IP network infrastructures.

Acquisitions and mergers

Brocade pursued an aggressive growth strategy through numerous acquisitions to expand its technology portfolio and market reach. A landmark deal was the 2008 purchase of Foundry Networks for approximately $3 billion, which established Brocade as a major player in the IP networking market. Other significant acquisitions included Rhapsody Networks (2003) for its SAN virtualization technology, Therion Software Corporation (2004) for management software, and Silverback Systems (2007) for iSCSI acceleration technology. In the later years, Brocade acquired Riverbed Technology's SteelApp product line (2015) for application delivery controller technology and the network functions virtualization business of Connectem (2015). The company itself was acquired by Broadcom Inc. in a $5.9 billion deal finalized in November 2017.

Corporate affairs

For most of its existence, Brocade was headquartered in San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. The company was a publicly traded entity on the NASDAQ and was a component of indices like the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ-100. Brocade maintained a global sales and support presence with major offices and research facilities worldwide. Its executive leadership included notable figures from the networking industry, and the company engaged in various corporate social responsibility initiatives. Following the acquisition by Broadcom Inc., Brocade's operations were integrated, and its branding was gradually phased out in favor of the Broadcom master brand for its product lines.

Technology and standards

Brocade was deeply influential in developing and promoting key industry standards, particularly in storage networking. The company was a founding member and active contributor to the Fibre Channel Industry Association and played a major role in advancing the Fibre Channel Protocol and related standards like FICON. Its technology was integral to the adoption of Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) routing protocol in SAN fabrics. In the Ethernet domain, Brocade contributed to standards for data center bridging, software-defined networking (SDN) via support for OpenFlow, and network functions virtualization (NFV). The company's Brocade Fabric OS and support for architectures like the Brocade VCS Fabric were significant in evolving data center network design towards more automated, flat-layer topologies.