DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - Nov 7, 2012) - (EDUCAUSE 2012 Annual Conference) -- [ Brocade ] (NASDAQ: [ BRCD ]) today announced that Brocade^®[ MLXe ] Core Routers are integral networking components of the nation's first 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) open, nationwide software-defined network, operated by Internet2. The [ new network ] is built to support advanced services and cloud applications for member organizations, primarily in the education and research communities.

Designed to enable software-defined networking (SDN) protocols like OpenFlow, the Brocade MLXe 100 GbE routers enable programmatic control of the network infrastructure to deliver massive scale and intelligent service delivery capabilities. As the industry's first network vendor to deliver OpenFlow in true hybrid mode, the Brocade MLXe routers, [ announced ] in September 2012, enable customers to simultaneously deploy traditional Layer 2/3 forwarding with OpenFlow at up to wire-speed 100 GbE performance. This unique capability enables network operators such as Internet2 to integrate OpenFlow into existing networks, giving them the programmatic control offered by SDN for specific flows while the remaining traffic is handled as before.

"Networking infrastructure is being transformed by SDN into an open platform for innovation. We are excited that Brocade 100 GbE and true Hybrid-Mode OpenFlow technologies are part of the new Internet2 Network. By working with Internet2 and its members, Brocade will build upon its pioneering work on high-speed software-defined networks," said Ken Cheng, vice president of the Routing, Application Delivery and Software Networking Group at Brocade.

The national high-performance Internet2 Network connects America's colleges and universities to research and education collaborators worldwide. The newly upgraded 100 GbE-enabled and 8.8 Terabit per second (Tbps) optical network will allow member institutions to keep pace with the exponential growth in Big Data scientific research being driven by the nation's collaborative researchers in labs and universities.

The Internet2 Network also enables advanced networking features for more than 200,000 of the country's essential community anchor institutions, including libraries, hospitals, K-12 schools, community colleges and public safety organizations as part of its United States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN) project. In collaboration with regional research and education networks across the country, U.S. UCAN will enable these anchor institutions to serve their communities with telemedicine, distance learning and other life-changing applications. U.S. UCAN and the upgraded network are predominately funded through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Internet2 has more than 350 member institutions, including colleges and universities, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. For a complete list of participating members, please visit [ www.internet2.edu/network/participants/ ]

Internet2^® is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges, and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research and community service missions. For more information, visit [ www.internet2.edu ].

Additional Resources

• Press Release - Nation's First 100G Open, Nationwide, Software-Defined Network Launches for Education, Research, Industry and Innovators ([ http://internet2.edu/news/pr/2012.10.01.nations-first-100g-national-scale-network-launches.html ])
• Video - Internet2 Leverages Brocade to Provide 100 GbE and Support SDN ([ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwhskZcOl6U ])

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About Brocade
Brocade (NASDAQ: [ BRCD ]) is the pure-play networking company that innovates to make high-performance networks easier to deploy, manage, and scale in the most demanding environments. ([ www.brocade.com ])

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