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EMULEX, BROCADE EXPAND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Emulex Corp and Brocade Communications Systems Inc 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 at 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.