Client McDATA is the leading provider of storage networking solutions, helping customers build, globally connect, optimize, and centrally manage data infrastructures across SAN, MAN, and WAN environments. With nearly 25 years of experience developing SAN products, services, and solutions, McDATA is the trusted partner in the world's largest data centers, connecting more than two-thirds of all networked data.
Product Magpie created a management software interface to incorporate a new port board into the McDATA solution. The board, a 4-gigabyte port card called the LMQ (Line Module Quad), was produced in parallel with Magpie's development of the management software. Magpie worked within McDATA's Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Management (EFCM) framework.
Project Magpie's agile development processes allowed for adjustments in the software to accommodate inevitable changes in hardware design that occurred in the middle of the development cycle.
Magpie developed a hardware simulator to further aid in parallel development efforts. This reduced the time to market significantly, as we were not dependent upon functioning hardware to test the software.
McDATA created the hardware and firmware in California while coordinating with Magpie's remote team in Colorado.
Outcome The project was successfully completed on time in about nine weeks and within budget due to Magpie's expertise in Java, Swing, Remote Method Invocation (RMI), client/server architectures, JUnit (unit testing), and QFtest (functional testing). Storage Area Networking (SAN) principles were required to develop the simulator.
Because of Magpie's agile development processes, this was accomplished without any reliance on hardware delivery.
Magpie was able to ramp up and start the project within one week of the initial request from McDATA.
