Fibre Channel Fabrics

Introduction

Fibre Channel fabrics are non-blocking switches that allow full connectivity between all ports. Not all switches support all different classes of services as well.

Devices using Arbitrated Loop can also be used to connect devices without a fabric. It will give a lower total throughput, but has the advantage that full connectivity is preserved with a lower investment.


Devices

Fibre Channel fabrics are or will be available from the following manufacturers: Systran makes a Network Transparent Switch that can be used for low frequency reconfiguration of Fibre Channel and other networks. This product cannot be considered as a Fibre Channel fabric as it does not comply to any FC switch specification.


Ancor

FCS 266 Fibre Switch 16, FCS 266 Fibre Switch 64 and FCS 1062 Fibre Switch 16

ANCOR Fibre Channel switches have 8 to 64 ports and port speeds of 266 Mbps and 1062 Mbps. They are called FCS 266 Fibre Switch 16, FCS 266 Fibre Switch 64 and FCS 1062 Fibre Switch 16 dependent on the port speeds and number of ports.

Contact: Ancor Communications


Arcxel Technologies

AGS/8

Contact: Arcxel Technologies - 6-Aug-1997


Brocade

SilkWorm

Contact: Brocade Communications Systems - 6-Aug-1997


IBM

Fibre Channel Switch 16/1083

Base configuration of eight ports that can transfer data at up to 266 Mbit per second. The switch is expandable to 16 ports. IBM's switches have identical characteristics as the Ancor switches.

Contact: IBM - 7-Jul-1997 


McData

Marketing of the McDATA quarter-speed Fibre Channel switch, Model DS-1000 [the HP Model 266 switch] will continue from the McDATA office in Canada. Hewlett Packard does not produce any Fibre Channel switches anymore.

DS-1000 McDATA Enterprise Switch

The Model DS-1000 supports up to sixteen (16) full duplex I/O ports and features support for 266 Mbps/port, low latency, class 2 and 3 fabric services, broadcast, and high availability fabric meshing. It is designed to operate in heterogeneous computing environments.

Data Center Switches

Enterprise Class Switches

To obtain information about McDATA's upcoming high-availability Fibre Channel switches and open preliminary dialogs, interested parties must first sign a McDATA Confidential Non-Disclosure Agreement. Contact McDATA's Business Development Group. E-mail: busdev@mcdata.com

Contact: McData - 7-Jul-1997


CERN - High Speed Interconnect - FCS
Erik van der Bij - 6 August 1997 - Disclaimer