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Why a storage networking company bought an Ethernet vendorDeal timeline, July to December 2008How the product lines were renamedThe 2017 split: Extreme and ArrisTraining and certificationWhat the acquisition means if you run the gear todayQuestions01 /Why a storage networking company bought an Ethernet vendor
Brocade sold Fibre Channel switches and directors for storage area networks. In 2008 that market was healthy but bounded, and its largest competitor, Cisco Systems, sold both storage switching and the Ethernet around it. The industry expected storage and data traffic to converge onto one lossless Ethernet fabric through Fibre Channel over Ethernet and the data centre bridging standards. A pure storage vendor risked becoming a component supplier inside someone else's data centre design.
Foundry was the largest independent Ethernet switch and router vendor available. It brought campus and data centre switching (BigIron, FastIron), service provider routing (NetIron) and application delivery (ServerIron), plus a large Japanese customer base and a profitable business. Buying it let Brocade sell a complete data centre network and answer Cisco in accounts where it already sold storage switching.
02 /Deal timeline, July to December 2008
The agreement was announced on July 21, 2008 at $19.25 per Foundry share in cash and stock, about $3 billion. Then the credit markets seized. Brocade had arranged debt financing for the cash portion, the Foundry shareholder vote was postponed in October, and in early November the companies announced revised terms: $16.50 per share, all cash, about $2.6 billion. Shareholders approved in mid-December 2008 and the transaction closed within days.
03 /How the product lines were renamed
Brocade kept the Foundry engineering organisation largely intact and, for a time, the IronWare name. Renaming was gradual. ServerIron gained the ADX suffix. The NetIron MLX and XMR routers kept their names and remained the Brocade core routing platform for years, later joined by the MLXe chassis. FastIron moved to new hardware as the FCX series and then the ICX series while keeping the FastIron software lineage and CLI. BigIron RX continued for a period before being superseded. EdgeIron, SecureIron, IronPoint and AccessIron were not carried forward as brands.
| Foundry line (2008) | Brocade name | Where it is now |
|---|---|---|
| ServerIron | ServerIron ADX | End of sale in the mid-2010s; no successor product |
| NetIron MLX and XMR | NetIron MLX, later MLXe | Extreme Networks, data centre routing, since 2017 |
| BigIron RX | BigIron RX | Superseded; not carried forward |
| FastIron | FastIron FCX, then ICX | Ruckus ICX under CommScope; FastIron software continues |
| IronView Network Manager | Reportedly folded into Brocade management tools | Retired; see the IronView page |
04 /The 2017 split: Extreme and Arris
In 2017 Broadcom acquired Brocade for its Fibre Channel business and divested the rest. The data centre switching and routing business, including the SLX, MLX and VDX lines, went to Extreme Networks in October 2017. The Ruckus wireless business together with the ICX campus switching business went to Arris in December 2017, and Arris was acquired by CommScope in 2019. For anyone tracing a Foundry lineage: NetIron descendants are Extreme products, FastIron descendants are Ruckus ICX switches sold by CommScope, and FastIron survives as the operating system name on those switches.
05 /Training and certification
Foundry ran its own certification track, with credentials carrying the Foundry name, and the training pages under /ss/training/ listed courses on IronWare configuration, routing and ServerIron. After the acquisition the program was folded into the Brocade certification program, with Foundry credentials reportedly mapped to Brocade equivalents for a transition period, and the old training URL redirected to the Brocade education site. Those credentials were reorganised again after 2017, so a Foundry-era certificate has no current equivalent.
06 /What the acquisition means if you run the gear today
Every Foundry-branded product is past end of life. Practical consequences:
- Documentation moved to Brocade portals in 2009 and then to Extreme Networks (MLX, older NetIron and BigIron material) or Ruckus/CommScope (FastIron and ICX) after 2017. Web archive captures of the original /services/documentation/ tree are often the fastest route to a 2000s-era guide.
- Firmware for IronWare platforms sits behind successor support portals and requires an active support contract, which the successors do not sell for Foundry-era hardware. The image on the unit is usually what you get.
- Security fixes are not coming. Harden the management plane and keep the device off untrusted networks; see the security advisories archive.
- Configuration knowledge transfers well. FastIron CLI on a current ICX switch is recognisably the IronWare CLI of 2005; see the CLI reference.
FoundryNet is an independent archive. It is not affiliated with Foundry Networks, Brocade, Broadcom, Extreme Networks, Arris or Ruckus/CommScope and does not distribute their software or support.
07 /Questions
How much did Brocade pay for Foundry?
About $2.6 billion in cash, or $16.50 per share, when the deal closed in December 2008. The original July 2008 agreement was about $3 billion at $19.25 per share in cash and stock, cut after the credit crisis made the financing harder to place.
Why was the Foundry deal renegotiated?
The agreement was signed in July 2008 and the credit markets seized that autumn. Brocade needed debt financing for the cash portion and the Foundry shareholder meeting was postponed. The parties agreed lower all-cash terms in November 2008 rather than let the deal fail.
What happened to the ServerIron after Brocade?
It continued as the ServerIron ADX application delivery controller for several years. Brocade later exited the application delivery market and the ADX reached end of sale in the mid-2010s. No successor company carries a ServerIron lineage product today.
Which company supports Foundry NetIron routers now?
Extreme Networks acquired the Brocade data centre routing and switching business, including the MLX line, in 2017. Extreme holds the MLX documentation and firmware, but Foundry-era NetIron hardware is end of life and not covered by new support contracts.
Does the FastIron operating system still exist?
Yes. Ruckus ICX campus switches, now sold by CommScope, run FastIron software that descends from Foundry IronWare. The CLI is close enough that a configuration written for a 2006 FastIron switch is readable to an ICX administrator today.
Sources
- Brocade Communications Systems press release, Brocade to Acquire Foundry Networks, July 21, 2008
- Brocade Communications Systems and Foundry Networks joint press release announcing an amended merger agreement, November 2008
- Brocade Communications Systems press release announcing completion of the Foundry Networks acquisition, December 2008
- Extreme Networks press release on completing the acquisition of the Brocade data center networking business, October 2017
- Arris press release on completing the acquisition of Ruckus Wireless and the ICX Switch business, December 2017