The Brocade Network Advisor, has been launched as the industry’s first and only unified network management platform for SAN and IP networks. The new platform provides a single, easy-to-use management solution across Brocade Fibre Channel SANs, IP networks, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) networks, wireless networks and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks.

Brocade Network Advisor is designed to support the four Brocade One value propositions of simplicity,  networking, optimized applications and investment protection to provide unique benefits to customers with data center, enterprise campus and service provider networks:

• Unmatched Simplicity: Delivers comprehensive lifecycle management capabilities, including configuration, monitoring, management and reporting across the entire Brocade networking portfolio – all from a single, easy-to-use GUI. Powerful Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) capabilities provide fine-grained management over networking resources and a detailed audit of change activities.
• Non-stop Networking: Reduces network downtime and increases network security with proactive network monitoring, traffic analysis, fault isolation, change management and policy-driven remedial actions.
• Optimized Applications: Optimizes application traffic and performance to manage service level agreements (SLAs) via end-to-end network monitoring, automation and policy management. In addition, Brocade Network Advisor supports configuration of quality of service (QoS) on a per-host or a per-virtual machine (VM) basis.
• Investment Protection: Provides tight integration via standards-based APIs with industry-leading partner products for server management, storage management, virtualization management and data center orchestration. Examples include VMware vCenter, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC) and IBM Systems Director.

“Customers are experiencing significantly high operating expenses associated with disparate islands of tools and fragmented lifecycle management processes,” said Jason Nolet, Vice President, Data Center and Enterprise Networking Group at Brocade. “Brocade Network Advisor addresses these pain points with a robust, scalable architecture that integrates SAN, Ethernet, MPLS and wireless management into a single, cohesive management application. Most importantly, Brocade Network Advisor reduces customer OpEx by minimizing training, increasing automation and consolidating tools.”

“Managing a complex network infrastructure in a dynamic enterprise customer lab facility is definitely a challenge,” said Mike Poulson, Program Manager, Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center. “Our network configuration changes from week to week and devices are added and removed on a regular basis to support different customer test requirements. Using multiple tool sets to manage and capture the entire view of the network can be challenging and time-consuming. In order to efficiently and effectively manage our network infrastructure, a single unified network management platform covering LAN and SAN on a single user interface will be a significant benefit.”

“Managing a broad network infrastructure efficiently is a challenge most network operators face. It’s not only extremely time-consuming but requires multiple sets of tools to capture the entire view of the network,” said IJ Rosenblum, Director of IT, BOK Center/Tulsa Convention Center. “IT managers can benefit from a single unified management platform that helps to automate processes and manage the entire network from SAN to wired and wireless LAN on a single user interface. It’s a huge benefit that can minimize operational overhead and improve network reliability.”

For existing Brocade IronView Network Manager (INM) or Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM) customers, Brocade Network Advisor will provide a seamless upgrade path and functional continuity. Brocade will also provide migration guides, training material and education courses to help ensure a seamless transition to the new product.