Brocade Acquires IP Networking Help

Storage and networking infrastructure provider Brocade Communications Systems announced March 4 that it is acquiring Strategic Business Systems, a privately held professional services company that specializes in data center design, virtualization and data migration projects.

The companies did not disclose the transaction terms.

SBS brings industry-respected expertise in the IP networking sector, something that Brocade, centered on Fibre Channel, has lacked in its service catalog. These services are strategic for Brocade as it strives to expand its reach in the data center infrastructure and services business and compete with its archrival, Cisco Systems.

Since it opened for business in 2000, Strategic Business Systems has completed about 80 e-business implementations, 60 enterprise content management implementations, and more than 20 motor vehicle industry implementations. The company, which employs several hundred consultants, also does a significant amount of federal government work.

"When we were doing our due diligence in researching SBS, we were amazed at how the portfolios overlapped," Rob Buergisser, Brocade's director of operations for service, support and solutions, told eWEEK.

"About 80 percent of the type of services that SBS provides are close to the ones Brocade already offers, such as storage assessment, disaster recovery and data migration. But what they do in data center virtualization, data migration services, and network design and optimization are the most important things they bring to the table."

Bob Laliberte, storage analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK that the acquisition is "really a nice fit" for Brocade.

"They bring some of the same services that Brocade already has, but the incremental services are the key ones that are strategic going forward," Laliberte said. "Their expertise in the virtualization of IP will play very well in Brocade's data center group, and it will drive convergence for some of Brocade's Fibre Channel customers."

Overall, SBS will bring a much broader skill set to Brocade, which is important in helping develop the data centers of the future, Laliberte said.

The deal is expected to close by end of April, Buergisser said.