Brocade Corporation: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (BRCD)
Company Name: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (often referred to as Brocade Corporation)
Ticker Symbol: BRCD (NASDAQ – Historical)
Company Website: www.brocade.com
Company Overview and Market Legacy
Brocade Corporation was a leading provider of high-performance networking solutions. The company specialized in data center networking and storage area networking (SAN) products.
During its tenure as a public entity, Brocade Corporation was best known for its innovation in fibre channel technology. This protocol became the gold standard for high-speed data transfers between servers and storage devices.
The company’s hardware and software helped enterprises manage massive amounts of data. Their solutions were critical for the reliability of large-scale cloud and enterprise environments.
The Broadcom Acquisition
In November 2017, Broadcom Inc. finalized its acquisition of Brocade Corporation. The deal was valued at approximately $5.5 billion, plus the assumption of debt.
This strategic move allowed Broadcom to dominate the fibre channel storage market. Broadcom integrated Brocade’s SAN business while divesting other non-core assets.
Following the merger, the IP networking portion of the business was sold to Extreme Networks. This divestiture included the Ruckus Wireless and ICX switch product lines.
Core Technology and Storage Solutions
The primary strength of Brocade Corporation lay in its Storage Area Networking (SAN) division. Their Gen 6 and Gen 7 fibre channel switches provided industry-leading performance and low latency.
Organizations relied on these switches to prevent data bottlenecks in mission-critical applications. The technology remains a vital component of modern hybrid cloud architectures.
Today, the “Brocade” brand continues to exist under the Broadcom umbrella. It remains the dominant player in the storage connectivity space for global enterprises.
Categories Found In: Networking
Headquarters: San Jose, CA