Choice at the Core and at the Edge
Brocade DCX Backbones are available in two modular form factors. Built for large enterprise networks, the 14U Brocade DCX has eight vertical blade slots to provide up to 512 Fibre Channel ports using Brocade-branded 4 Gbps or 8 Gbps SFPs. Built for midsize networks, the 8U Brocade DCX-4S has four horizontal blade slots to provide up to 256 Fibre Channel ports.

Both models feature ultra-high-speed Inter-Chassis Link (ICL) ports to connect up to three backbones, providing extensive scalability and flexibility at the network core. At the network edge, organizations can utilize Brocade 8 Gbps switches, Brocade 48000 Directors, or—for complete backbone-class capabilities—the Brocade DCX-4S.

Industry-Leading Performance, Scalability, and Energy Efficiency
Delivering uncongested 8 Gbps throughput and four times the performance of competitive offerings, Brocade DCX Backbones enable enterprises to:

• Achieve greater server, storage, network, and data center consolidation with the industry’s first and only 64-port blade
• Broaden server virtualization with more–and more demanding–virtual machines on fewer physical servers
• Reduce equipment, facility, and overhead costs
• Scale efficiently and non-disruptively to meet storage growth and application demands

Brocade DCX Backbones are also five times more energy efficient than competitive offerings. In addition to helping organizations reduce energy costs and achieve "green" initiatives, Brocade DCX Backbones free up limited power and cooling resources in the data center for more servers and storage arrays.

Flexible, Multi-protocol Architecture
The Brocade DCX family supports 1/2/4/8/10Gbps Fibre Channel and FICON, FCIP, and IPFC. To consolidate server connectivity using Data Center Bridging (DCB) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) in open systems environments, the Brocade FCOE10-24 Blade enables a high-density, end-of-row chassis configuration. Alternatively, Brocade 8000 top-of-rack switches can be connected over Fibre Channel ISLs to DCX Backbones in the network core.

Native B- and M-Series connectivity enables organizations to leverage current Brocade investments without risk, disruption, or management complexity.  Brocade DCX Backbones include a Virtual Fabrics feature that enables partitioning of a physical SAN into logical fabrics and isolation by application, business group, customer, or traffic type. Optional Fibre Channel Integrated Routing alleviates the need for special-purpose blades or routers to connect servers and storage in separate fabrics. And optional SAN extension over long-distance IP connections accelerates offsite replication, backup, and restore.

Powered by Brocade FOS
Brocade DCX Backbones utilize the powerful Brocade Fabric OS® (FOS), which provides several unique features, including Bottleneck Detection; Top Talkers (part of Advanced Performance Monitoring); and Adaptive Networking, a suite of tools that includes Ingress Rate Limiting, Traffic Isolation, and QoS. Managed through Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM) or the Command Line Interface (CLI), these advanced capabilities help optimize fabric behavior and application performance.

Plug-in Security and Disaster Recovery Solutions
The Brocade DCX family enables scalable, high-performance, and cost-effective security and disaster recovery solutions through plug-in blades. Brocade FS8-18 Encryption Blades can encrypt data-at-rest at up to 96 Gbps per blade with highly secure 256-bit AES and integrated support for leading key management applications. Brocade FX8-24 Extension Blades extend replication and backup over IP WAN links with the industry’s first and only 10 Gbps FCIP connectivity.

Intelligent Management
To help maximize network performance and reduce operational expense, Brocade DCFM provides intuitive system configuration, comprehensive management, and a topology-centric view across Brocade data center solutions. Brocade DCFM Enterprise supports both backbone models, while Brocade DCFM Professional (bundled) and Brocade DCFM Professional Plus support the Brocade DCX-4S.

Brocade HBAs, CNAs, and Optical Transceiver Modules
Brocade HBAs and CNAs deliver industry-leading server connectivity to Brocade DCX Backbones coupled with unified management using Brocade DCFM.Users also have the flexibility of utilizing third-party server connections.

When using 4Gbps or 8Gbps Fibre Channel connections to servers, switches, or storage devices, Brocade DCX Backbones require Brocade optical transceiver modules. Available in multiple models to satisfy a wide range of requirements, these Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) modules are optimized for Brocade 8Gbps products to maximize performance, reduce power consumption, and help ensure the highest availability of mission-critical applications.

Learn More

Cable Management
Cable management solutions for Brocade DCX Backbones enable organizations to build highly scalable, flexible, and cost-, space-, and energy-efficient cable infrastructures for next-generation data centers.

Learn More

Industry Standards Compliance
Brocade products conform to industry standards in a manner consistent with accepted engineering practices and procedures.

Review Industry Standards Compliance List