NEW YORK -- EMC Corporation, today announced that it will offer Brocade's new SilkWorm 24000 Director as a member of the EMC Connectrix family of directors and switches.

The new EMC Connectrix ED-24000B Director supports 128 ports in a single domain at 2 Gbit/sec, and features hot code activation as well as fully redundant power supplies, fans and control processors. The EMC Connectrix ED-24000B Director is initially qualified by EMC for Fibre Channel with planned future support for FICON.

Additional protocols such as FCIP and iSCSI can be offered through the addition of future expansion blades. The EMC Connectrix ED-24000B Director with Fibre Channel connectivity will be generally available on May 3.

"We subject every SAN switch and director we support to the most rigorous testing in the industry to ensure the widest range of compatibility and the highest levels of reliability," said Chuck Hollis, EMC's Vice President of Platforms Marketing.