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Fibre-Channel is an interface standard for connecting computers to mass storage devices such as disk drives, disk arrays and tape libraries. Developed more than a decade after SCSI, which it was intended to replace for high performance applications, the Fibre-Channel standard was specified around faster data throughput speeds, and longer distances because of its use of fiber-optic cable. Data reliability was also significantly better than parallel SCSI because data errors due to crosstalk and line reflections were effectively designed out.

The differences in spelling (Fibre in this standard versus Fiber in the cable) were done deliberately by the standard creators.

In recent years, new versions of SCSI, such as iSCSI have nearly caught up in speed terms (and iSCSI over InfiniBand is even faster) so the original performance differences are now blurred. ...from Megabyte's Storage Dictionary
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Fibre-channel adapter card oems
GBICs / InfiniBand / iSCSI / SAN
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Megabyte found that Fibre-channel
was a really quick way of getting around.
Expect 16GFC by 2011 - says FCIA

Editor:- October 20, 2009 - the Fibre Channel Industry Association announced its has completed the technical work on 16Gb/s Fibre Channel (16GFC) - which provides a natural value migration from 8GFC.

Product roll-outs are anticipated in 2011 according to FCIA Chairman - Skip Jones.

Editor's comments:- I first published a directory of Fibre-channel adapters way back in 1994. The first FC connected storage array product listed in that was the SPARCstorageArray from Sun Microsystems.

It's reassuring that users in the FC market can anticipate another level of performance evolution - but FC is no longer a growth market. So this could be the last post for FC - just as 15K RPM was the end of the road for hard disks.

For dispersed systems ethernet based storage (NAS) long ago became the dominant network storage connect - while for local use and higher performance InfiniBand and PCIe have taken hold in distinct functional pockets.


Emulex Offers Bridging Hand to SSD Designers

Editor:- October 13, 2009 - Emulex is expanding its InSpeed chip bridging technology to simplify the job of designing fast native SAS and Fibre-channel compatible flash SSDs.

"SandForce is working closely with Emulex to enable customers to build enterprise-class SSDs that connect to Fibre Channel or SAS systems," said Thad Omura, VP of marketing, SandForce. "Emulex's next generation InSpeed flexible bridging options enable our SATA-based Enterprise SSD Processor, to be used with either Fibre Channel or SAS systems. In initial testing, we've found the new InSpeed bridge technology provides a robust and high performance solution for SSD applications." SSD Controllers / IP


ATTO Demos 6,400MB/s HBA at IBC

Editor:- September 10, 2009 - ATTO Technology is demonstrating its 6Gb/s SAS HBAs and 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs this week at IBC in Amsterdam .

Demos include a quad-channel card that delivers the fastest available Fibre Channel data transfer rate of 6,400MB/s. Storage Events, Record Breaking Storage


FCIA Reports on 2nd FCoE Plugfest

Editor:- May 20, 2009 - the Fibre Channel Industry Association today announced that it successfully completed its 2nd FCoE Plugfest the week of May 12th at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab.

"This year's FCoE Plugfest was timed appropriately given tough economic times we are facing today – IT decision-makers are looking for savings in numerous areas such as power, space and cooling management while preserving their existing Fibre Channel investments" says Skip Jones, chairman FCIA and director Technology and Planning at QLogic. "Last week's FCoE Plugfest proved that this new technology is ready for prime time and ready to deliver the cost-savings that customers are looking for and underscores the arrival of a new efficient data center." Storage Events, Storage ORGs


New Real-Time Design / Debug Tool for FC / NAS OEMs

Editor:- March 25, 2009 - Absolute Analysis has announced enhancements to its range of serial data test tools - such as...
  • ability to check system behavior in the presence of latency (failure and recovery) for Fibre Channel and Ethernet protocols, including FCoE, AFDX, iSCSI, IP, IPv6, TCP
  • ability to corrupt one or more network events in real-time and simulate data loss, data corruption, protocol errors and data errors, and check device under test error recovery procedures.
"Absolute Analysis is proud to offer engineers a much-needed single solution featuring the integration of sophisticated tools for use in data communications, telecommunications, and military communications, to capture, analyze, delay, modify, and verify data at full line rate," stated Dennis Murphy, President of Absolute Analysis. "This release... enables in-line, real-time impairment testing coupled with a powerful error injector and analysis that far exceed existing industry offerings." Storage Testers & Analyzers


Virtual Instruments Offers Clearer Views for SAN Traffic Analysis

Scotts Valley, Calif. - November 11, 2008 - Virtual Instruments today announced availability of its SAN Traffic Analysis Point module.

An add-on component for its NetWisdom solution, TAP (which costs $300 per port) enables real-time Fibre Channel network transaction monitoring, analysis and diagnosis. Unlike Mirror or SPAN ports, TAP devices show complete visibility of network traffic and mirror the data flowing between two network points.

Virtual Instruments' CEO, Mark Urdahl said - "IT administrators can find themselves in serious and expensive situations when the storage network experiences a problem or down time with limited visibility into the root-cause of the problem. Having Virtual Instruments' TAP device is like having a window into your SAN traffic. It provides unprecedented access to SAN transactions so that performance and troubleshooting issues can be proactively identified and resolved, allowing our customers to realize tremendous cost savings." ...Virtual Instruments profile, Storage Testers & Analyzers


New Article - FC SAN SSDs

Editor:- September 13, 2008 - Storagesearch.com today published a new article and directory on the subject of - "Fibre-Channel SSDs."

"I've tracked the SAN storage market since the first commercially launched products in 1994" said editor Zsolt Kerekes.

"As the number of market-active SSD oems listed on Storagesearch approaches 90 companies I thought I should make it easier for readers to disentagle the info related to this important market segment - which was getting lost in tables deep in our SSD Buyers Guide. The new SAN SSD page lists all current vendors and also explains how this market fits into a historic context." ...read the article

Multiple Vendors Announce Support for FCoE
Editor:- April 11, 2008 - this week Emulex and Intel launched 10Gb/s Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) adapters.

Emulex explained the thinking behind this. With FCoE, customers may now leverage the ubiquity of Ethernet to converge both storage and networking traffic, improve overall efficiency and simplify the infrastructure. Designed to natively transport Fibre Channel traffic over the Ethernet network, FCoE will take advantage of lossless Ethernet in the data center. A lossless Ethernet fabric provides the level of performance and reliable delivery of data required for enterprise storage environments.

Intel's PCIe dual port FCoE adapter will be in volume production in May and will be priced at $799. The entire Intel 10GbE family will have FCoE support on Red Hat Enterprise Linux by July and on Windows later this year.

FCoE will be a new standard with support from leading storage and switch oems. The first mention on these news pages was in October 2007 - when QLogic unveiled its products.

In theory FCoE may help customers with an installed base of legacy FC applications reduce costs by moving them onto Ethernet environments. In practise, as we saw with the long drawn out birth pangs of the iSCSI market - tidying up all the loose ends could take many years.
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storage history

Fibre-channel - 1999
Fibre-channel - 2000
Fibre-channel - 2001
Fibre-channel - 2002
Fibre-channel - 2003
Fibre-channel - 2004
Fibre-channel - 2005
Fibre-channel - 2006

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