Brocade spells out channel benefits of Foundry Networks acquisition

Brocade has expanded on its reasons for buying Foundry Networks and the repercussions for the channel underlying the increase in opportunities it presents for partners.

The announcement of the $3bn takeover was seen by many as a chance for Brocade to bolster its position against competitors including Cisco.

Mike Murphy, director of EMEA marketing at Brocade, said that it had an established presence in the SAN market but the Foundry acquisition would open it up to the LAN world.

"It enables us to play a bigger role with our customer's as we needed a credible alternative on the LAN side of things," he said.

He added that for partners there would be little overlap because of the different routes to market.

"We have a direct sales force but fulfill via the channel. Brocade has large OEMs and Foundry has strong resellers and system integrators so we can pick the best of both channel programmes," he said.

Murphy added that it expected its market to remain robust despite the downturn because of the continuing need to provide technology that could help customers save money, particularly through server consolidation.