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Fibre Channel Industry Association Ratifies Standard for 8Gbs
Fabrics
Vote Extends 8Gbs FC From an 'Inside the Box' Storage Device Interconnect Into
Switched San Fabrics
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Fibre Channel Industry
Association (FCIA) and its sister association, the Fibre Channel Industry
Association-Japan (FCIA-J), today announced that its members have ratified the
extension of the Fibre Channel roadmap to extend 8Gbs Fibre Channel from an
"inside the box" storage device interconnect into switched SAN fabrics. The
Fibre Channel industry is now positioned to help customers preserve their 2Gbs
Fibre Channel (2GFC) and 4Gbs Fibre Channel (4GFC) infrastructure investments
and avoid costly 'fork lift' replacements. The vote supports the ANSI INCITS
T11 Technical Committee development of the 8Gbs Fibre Channel (8GFC) electrical
copper and optical interfaces in its FC-PI-4 standard and ensures that Fibre
Channel continues to provide the highest performance available for storage
interconnects.
Cost Effective Fibre Channel Migration Preserves Current Investments
While noting that its member companies are at the present time introducing new
families of 4GFC and 10GFC products to the market, the FCIA explained that
there is value in sharing the roadmap with customers. They can use the
information that it contains on future product directions to plan a smooth
migration to higher speed products when they become available with assurances
that continued Fibre Channel investments will be completely cost effective, and
backward compatible with legacy Fibre Channel products. When 8GFC products
become available, expected to be in the 2007-2008 time frame, customers will be
able to preserve their 2GFC and 4GFC infrastructure investments and avoid a
costly "fork lift" replacement. The "auto-negotiation" feature of Fibre Channel
enables 8GFC products to automatically sense and adapt to the data rate
capability of connected lower speed Fibre Channel products without user
intervention. For example, when attaching to a 4GFC product, an 8GFC product
will automatically run at 4GFC. 4GFC products will be introduced this year. It
is anticipated that they will enjoy broad market acceptance over the next
several years as Fibre Channel continues to be the storage and SAN interconnect
of choice throughout all small and large businesses.
"We are pleased that the FCIA has once again helped prevent industry
fragmentation by providing a clear and concise roadmap for future Fibre Channel
migration as well as providing invaluable market feedback into the Fibre
Channel standards community. With 8GFC on the roadmap, Fibre Channel's future
is ensured by meeting future performance demands while preserving the current
and ongoing investments that users make in the technology. Our roadmap enables
suppliers and users to plan future products and architectures that complement
the proven track record of Fibre Channel applications. Providing all the
benefits of full backward compatibility to the large, rapidly growing Fibre
Channel installed base, 8GFC will deliver the most cost-effective, highest
performance for SAN applications," said Skip Jones, Chairman of the Fibre
Channel Industry Association Speed Forum Committee.
"Protecting investments is an important aspect of technology planning for both
IT manufacturers and their customers, as it allows them to make better
decisions about current and future technologies," said Richard Villars, Vice
President of Storage Systems at IDC. "The FCIA roadmap for 8 Gigibit Fibre
Channel solutions that are compatible with today's 2GFC and coming 4GFC
products reflects a sensitivity to the importance of investment protection for
existing SAN infrastructures."
"We look forward to working with our partner vendors and suppliers to help
ensure our customers have a smooth transition to the 8GFC Fabric" said John
Howarth, Senior Director of Marketing, Xyratex. "As a leader in 2GFC and 4GFC
Fibre Channel technology we support this new standard and recognize the
importance of protecting our customers current investments while at the same
time supporting faster and more efficient storage networking solutions."
"The vote for 8GFC fabric is a watershed event for the entire SAN industry
including manufacturers, distributors, VARs and end-users," said Frank Berry,
vice president of marketing, QLogic Corp. "Manufacturers can now move
full-speed ahead in one direction that is based on standards, while end-users
are ensured of the backwards compatibility they need to protect their SAN
investments. The vote also demonstrates the importance of the FCIA to the SAN
industry."
"PMC-Sierra supports the FCIA's decision in establishing 8GFC fabrics as the
next generation SAN fabric which enables enterprise IT managers to protect and
leverage their current storage equipment investments with a higher speed
backward compatible roadmap that will meet their future storage demands," said
Mark Stibitz, Vice President and General Manager of PMC-Sierra's Enterprise
Storage Division. "PMC-Sierra plans to leverage its high speed mixed signal
expertise to deliver optimized price-performance components that will enable
8GFC Fibre Channel to remain cost-effective and continue its lead for SAN
connectivity."
"As a leader in the Fibre Channel market place, McDATA supports our customers
into the future as the market demands ever increasing performance," said Jeff
Vogel, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, McDATA. "It's inevitable
that we'll see a progression of increasing bandwidth options as our industry
scales to meet the demands of data intensive applications running in the
network. We're pleased to support FCIA's move to 8GFC Fibre Channel fabrics as
the industry association is providing customers with a clear roadmap for
performance increases as well as for migration due to the backward
compatibility provided by the standard."
"As a market leader in Fibre Channel solutions, LSI Logic is investing R&D
dollars in developing a broad range of ASIC CoreWare(R) and storage standard
products to support advances in storage interconnection technology. We will
continue to leverage our position as a driver of industry standards to be a
leader in the 8GFC market, as we have in previous generations," said Dave
Jones, Vice President and General Manager of LSI Logic's Storage ASICs
division."
"I-TECH supports the FCIA's continued effort to meet the storage industry's
needs by increasing Fibre Channel performance to 8GFC in SANs. I-TECH's
leadership in analyzer technology for critical storage and network applications
is embodied in the only analyzer in the industry uniquely positioned for the
continued trend toward deeper trace memory and faster display-to-capture times
that this technology requires. Our commitment to increased performance and
interoperability is evident in our products and supports FCIA's roadmap." Steve
Bucher, I-TECH CEO.
"As the acknowledged leader in Fibre Channel Analysis, Finisar is committed to
support advances in the industry. Our products play a key role in ensuring that
the user community enjoys investment protection by confirming interoperability
as new speed barriers are crossed. We see 8G as a substantial performance
upgrade that will enable Fibre Channel SANs to continue to meet the growing
demands that are placed on them and the mission-critical applications that they
support." Dr. Brian Staff, Vice President of Marketing, Finisar Network Tools.
"The industry's decision to establish 8GFC as the next generation speed
advances the long term value proposition of Fibre Channel for all users," said
Mike Smith, vice president of worldwide marketing Emulex Corporation. "8GFC
Fibre Channel offers higher speed, backward compatibility and use of existing
infrastructure--all without significant change in cost. As a leading supplier
of SAN infrastructure, Emulex supports this decision and will continue to help
drive positive change and the advancement of Fibre Channel technology for the
benefit of end users."
"As the world leader in networking technology, Cisco has always been a strong
proponent of industry standards. Extending the 8GFC standard, with its higher
performance and backward compatibility, to fabric applications will help ensure
that users have a strong future growth path for their Fibre Channel storage
networks while preserving their investment in current technology," said Ed
Chapman, Senior Director of Product Management in Cisco's Storage Business
Unit. "Offering customers the utmost flexibility for designing their SANs, the
Cisco MDS 9000 Family of switches has been built to support any number of
existing and future storage transport protocols. Similar to our support for
4GFC, which we expect to deliver in calendar year 2005, Cisco will provide
support for 8GFC as market demand warrants."
"The addition of 8GFC as the next step in a fully compatible line of link
technologies demonstrates the continued aggressive developments planned for
Fibre Channel." said Jay Kidd, CTO of Brocade Communications Systems. "As
faster server and faster storage devices come to market, Fibre Channel is
evolving in a cost effective, backwards compatible manner to meet real customer
needs from entry to enterprise applications."
"The definition of a physical layer standard that is fully interoperable with
the 4GFC solutions is a win for customers. They can safely make investments in
4GFC technology available now from companies such as Broadcom, knowing that it
will fully interoperate with next generation products and technologies," said
Michael McDonald, Senior Director of Broadcom's Fibre Channel Storage Line of
Business responsible for the company's recently introduced 4GFC fabric switch
silicon products.
"As a leader in Fibre Channel component technology, Agilent understands the
value of delivering greater price/performance and providing a growth path that
preserves existing infrastructure and customer investment," said Martin Scott,
Vice President and General Manager of Agilent's Input/Output Solutions
Division. "We are delighted to participate in the FCIA and T-11 standard groups
and we're committed to delivering 8GFC solutions in the future. Based on our
early experience with a successful Tachyon 4GFC product introduction, it's
clear that new speeds will be adopted more easily by providing a flexible
upgrade path and by avoiding disruption to the IT infrastructure."
About FCIA
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is a nonprofit international
organization of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers, systems
vendors, industry professionals and end users. With 80 member companies and
FCIA affiliates in the United States and Japan, FCIA is committed to delivering
a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure to support a wide array of
industry applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas. FCIA working
groups focus on specific aspects of the technology, targeting both vertical and
horizontal markets including storage, video, networking and SAN management. For
more information on FCIA, please visit our web site:
http://www.fibrechannel.org/, contact us: or call 1-415-561-6270.
DATASOURCE: Fibre Channel Industry Association; LSI Logic Corporation
CONTACT: Erin Lutz, media representative for Skip Jones, FCIA Speed
Forum Chairman, +1-949-293-1055, or ; or Diana Hodges of LSI
Logic Corporation, +1-408-433-4245, or
Web site: http://www.lsilogic.com/