Reliability is the prerequisite for advocates of the private cloud (or the modern data center depending on what you want to call it). It’s in contrast to the public cloud that views latency as a primary issue.

The differences are significant and point to the deep differences of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) style cloud compared to an enterprise cloud that a company like EMC embraces.

That’s apparent in the interview with Brocade’s Jason Nolet on theCube at the EMC VSPEX launch in San Francisco yesterday. Brocade does very well serving the community that keeps its primary focus on the traditional data center model. Fiber channel is the hook. Fiber Channel is reliable. It represents trust.

“Fibre channel is alive and well,” Nolet said. “It’s a sticky technology with a lot of loyalty.”

AWS scales horizontally. The idea is to design for failure. If a server goes down, not a problem. The load gets distributed elsewhere. Think of the IT support person who makes a run through the network to find the dead servers. It’s not much different than any factory with thousands of nodes. You just keep the plant running and remove the dead stuff when the day is done.

In that environment, ethernet is the preferred networking technology. I Fibre channel is the standard for storage array networks (SAN). It fits with the VSPEX technology. So it’s clear why Brocade is big on VSPEX.

Brocade has three options for VSPEX:

• Entry level is the Brocade ICX Switches. These are available for deployment in VSPEX bundles of up to 100 virtual machines. Two models are included providing up to 48 ports of 1 Gpbs and 10 Gbps Ethernet connectivity.
• Brocade VDX Switches provides support for up to 250 virtual machines and up to 2,000 virtual desktops. It also provides ethernet connectivity.
• Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel Switches provides support for up to 250 virtual machines and 2,000 virtual desktops.

VCE integrates EMC, Cisco and VMware technology. Vblock is the core technology. It is different than VSPEX. It’s a single SKU. As Wikibon’s Dave Vellente says, with VCE you can choose any color as long as it is black.

With VCE, Brocade has no game. VSPEX is a different story. It is a system with 14 reference architectures. It offers choice. It gives Brocade an angle on the market.

Nolet makes this point in the interview. The choice means that the channel has the ability to consult – advise on the size of the infrastructure, bandwidth, etc.

“With a fully converged stack it feels good up front but in the long run you will suffer from vendor lock in,” Nolet said.

Brocade has considerable investment in fibre channel. Vellante asked during the interview about the issues that come with cabling and such. Nolet countered that customers are quite happy with fibre channel. Going from two physical networks to one is extremely complex.It is overrun by the operation complexity. They are happy with fibre channel.

Wikibon CTO Dave Floyer said that the issue with convergence is about the labor. That’s a statement we heard discussed through the day. Convergence creates a political issue about who actually runs it all.

“Part of a convergence is a converged organization,” Floyer said. “You want fewer people and less departments.”

You also need people who understand convergence. And do it in a way so you do not make stupid mistakes.