Connectrix is the family name for

EMC Corporation EMC Corporation (stylized as EMC²) was an American multinational corporation headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, which sold data storage device, data storage, information security, virtualization, analytics, cloud computing and other pro ...

's brand of

storage area network A storage area network (SAN) or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, block device, block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used to access Computer data storage, data storage devices, such as disk ...

(SAN) switches (also called "directors" for larger models). EMC does not manufacture any of these devices, instead they rebadge several other brands. In many cases the EMC version of a switch will have customized EMC firmware, which will improve larger SAN design and/or compatibility between multi-vendor products. These customizations are usually created by the original switch vendor to EMC's requirements.

Switch families

EMC switch families, based on performance and connectivity features, range from enterprise-class to edge devices. The switch families are: * ED - Enterprise Director * DS - Departmental Switch * MP - Multi-Protocol Router

OEM identification

The original switch vendor can usually be deciphered from the EMC model name. Typically, model numbers are the same as the original number and the model name is suffixed with a letter denoting the original brand - B or M, for

Brocade Communications Systems Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., was an American technology company specializing in storage networking products, now a subsidiary of Broadcom Inc. The company is known for its Fibre Channel storage networking products and technology. Prio ...

and McData (which was acquired by Brocade) respectively. EMC also rebadges

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

MDS series switches. These have the prefix MDS and no suffix, clearly not conforming to the EMC nomenclature. For example: *DS-4100B = Brocade Silkworm 4100 *ED-10000M = McData Intrepid 10000 *MDS 9216i = Cisco MDS 9216i

External links

EMC Connectrix official page

Brocade EFCM / EMC Connectrix Manager (fabric management software)
EMC Corporation {{compu-storage-stub