I’m under an NDA, so I can’t actually tell you anything about Dell’s blade servers coming 4th quarter, 2004. What I can tell you is that Brocade never ceases to amuse me. This company sends me a brochure that might as well have been leathre-bound and gold-plated. It was ultra slick and obviously created at great expense. That implicitly told me that the company I was currently with would not likely be able to afford the product. I was right, of course. Today, Brocade sends “Lennie and Bruno” to do a presentation on why Brocade fibre switches are the best in the known world. I get the feeling that they’re more accustomed to a brute force approach to marketing. Like a, “Brocade is the best. If you think you can do better, I’ll crack your head open with a ratchet.” So “Lennie” is standing up there with a suit in that black color you only find in Armani and a dull sky-blue, silk tie. The tie clip is pure bling-bling, most likely solid gold with a diamond center. He’s clean-shaven and well groomed. He’s also talking with a weird northeastern U.S., God Father-esk accent that seems to demand your attention. “Lennie” is about 5’5″ from my estimate. To his left sits “Bruno.” He’s probably in the vicinity of 6’6″ (like myself) and 250lbs. (unlike myself). A little Herman Munster-ish with the long face and obviously large bone frame. Anyway, I’m probably blowing this way out of proportion and imagined the minute details that I bring before you now, but I’m pretty certain about the brute force tactics of Brocade. They have to think themselves pretty mighty with their almighty prices and industry recognition. You’d just hope that a company like that would put on a happy face for the public like Cisco or Microsoft (especially Microsoft).