Infocomm Indonesia part of Mybusinessblogging.com Channel

Their SAN switches are installed in almost every datacenters in Indonesia. But only a few recognize the name Brocade. This would change as the company builds up their presence in Indonesia with a new identity: to be the end-to-end solution provider for data center infrastructure. Brocade has lot to offer. Founded in 1995, Brocade Communications Systems first product was fiber channel switch sold through 23 OEM partners including Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), EMC, Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, Dell and Intel. Through the years, Brocade established itself as the leading vendor for SAN switch.

Having a strong foothold in SAN switch, Brocade ready to expand. In 2003-2007 period, Brocade acquired five companies: Rhapsody Networks, Therion Software Corp, NuView Inc, Silverback Systems and early this year, competitor McData. Each acquisition added new stuff in Brocade’s portfolio. From SAN switch, Brocade now offers file area network (FAN), virtualization, data migration, SAN resources management (SRM) and network acceleration solution.

These technologies have put Brocade in the epicentrum of data center infrastructure where they can see everything going on in data center. Compared to storage vendors, Brocade has a broader visibility. This is perfect to offer consulting service, which they did as VP Asia Pacific/Japan Deb Dutta pointed out. “We’re not only help organization connect SAN but also help them share and manage their information.”

Almost 90% share in Indonesia

Indonesia-wise, Gerald Penaflor who is in charge of South Asia Pacific/Korea in a press conference last week claimed Brocade acquired almost 90% share in SAN switch market. Almost all of their switches in the country were shipped through OEM partners, installed in datacenter of big banks and telcos.

Brocade experienced significant growth for the past three years, and information lifecycle management (ILM) that was just begun its traction in Indonesia opened lots of opportunities. These events led to the appointment of Budhi Wibawa as Country Manager for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei Darussalam in 2006. Budhi is no stranger to the storage world. He was storage team leader at IBM Indonesia’s systems technology group.

After setting up local leadership, Brocade now are in talk with 16 local companies and expect to recruit 20 partners by the of this year. Professional services SAN customer base from OEM partners will be the point of entry to Indonesian market. Surprisingly Brocade would not promote SAN equipments, but consulting services.

In Indonesia, professional services account for more than 50% of Brocade’s total revenue in Asia. “Our existing customers were excited to talk to us and ask for advice because our unique position made us a neutral player in datacenter,” said Budhi.

To serve the market, Brocade will train more local certified professional: Brocade Certified Fabric Professional (BCFP), Brocade Certified SAN Manager (BCSM) and Brocade Certified SAN Design (BCSD). Currently, there are 11 BCFP in Indonesia and six more in July 2007.

image captured from Brocade website

Topik: Infrastructure, News, Vendor