Brocade over the past several years has aggressively built up its networking software portfolio, starting with the purchase of Vyatta in 2012.
The Vyatta acquisition eventually brought Brocade the technology that led to the development of its software-defined networking (SDN) controller, a central part of the company’s software strategy. In the years since, Brocade has scooped up several other software vendors, including Vistapointe—which brought with it technology for network-functions virtualization (NFV) environments—and as well as the SteelApp product line (for application control and delivery) from Riverbed Technology earlier this year.
Brocade last month bought Connectem, a startup whose technology enabled carriers to connect mobile devices through the cloud.
With all these acquisitions, Brocade found itself with a software lineup that featured the names of the companies it bought, such as its Vyatta SDN Controller. Now, company officials are shedding the older names and bringing the Brocade brand to the forefront.
“As we continue to bring new software products to market—like the OpenDaylight-based SDN Controller—it has become evident that software is now baked into Brocade’s DNA,” Kelly Herrell, senior vice president and general manager of Brocade’s Software Networking business unit, wrote in a post on the company blog. “Through this cohesive perspective, our software and hardware teams are very clear in the shared pursuit of being a leader in software networking. Now it is time to simplify the way we talk about our disruptive offerings to ensure clarity for our stakeholders. Customers and partners need a clear and descriptive naming convention for our software products in order to understand their respective roles in emerging network designs.”
Herrell said the previous names for the products have strong recognition in the industry, but added that “reinforcing Brocade as the master brand and using functionally descriptive names instead of acquired brands will better serve our stakeholders now and into the future as our portfolio grows.”
Now, the Brocade Vyatta Controller will be known as the Brocade SDN Controller, and the Vyatta router will be known as the Brocade vRouter. The SteelApp products will lose the SteelApp name (for example, the SteelApp Services Controller is now the Brocade Service Director), while the Vistapointe product is called Brocade Network Visibility and Analytics. Connectem’s product is the Brocade vEPC.