Fibre Channel Concentrators/HUBs

Introduction

Fibre Channel is seen as an ideal medium to connect storage devices and to do local networking. The Arbitrated Loop topology is a cheap way to connect many devices together as no fabric is needed. But a physical loop will be difficult to construct as it requires individual cables or special T-connectors and it can be difficult to rewire. Also if power loss occurs on a physical node, the loop often is broken. A solution to those problems is to use a Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop concentrator, also called Hub.

In Fibre Channel terms, a Hub is a device which provides some or all of the following functions:

Devices

The following Arbitrated Loop concentrator exists:

ATTO Technologies

ATTO AccelNet FC

ATTO AccelNet FC Fibre Channel hub serves as a high-speed, central connection point for data sharing in Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) configurations.  The stackable, 5-port hub provides full duplex 1.0625 Gigabit performance with 200 Mbyte/sec. transfer rates for I/O and data intensive workgroup and enterprise environments.

Product Features

Contact: ATTO Technology - 6-Jan-1998


Emulex

 LightPulse Digital Fibre Hub

Features

LightPulse® Mini Hub

Features

Contact: USA: Bob Thomson, Emulex Corporation, E-m: b_thomson@emulex.com, Tel: +1 714 662 5600, Fax: +1 714 513 8265
Europe: Alan Wallman, Emulex Europe, England, Tel: +44 118 977 2929, Fax: +44 118 977 3237
and Jean-Marc Peuron, Emulex Europe, France, Tel: +33 1 4 191 1990, Fax: +33 1 4 191 1999 - 24-Aug-1998 

Gadzoox

FCL1063TW Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Active Hub

The Gadzoox BitStrip combines the resiliency, economy and user-friendliness of a central wiring hub with the performance advantages of 1.0625 gigabit per second Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop networking. Hub connection ensures resiliency, allowing users to disconnect nodes, add nodes, or power-off nodes without causing the FC-AL network to fail. The Bitstrip automatically detects and bypasses nonfunctional nodes and prevents non-Fibre Channel devices from connecting to the operating Fibre Channel loop.

Features

Contact: Gadzoox, Tel: +1 (408) 399-4858; Fax +1 (408) 399-4870; E-mail: info@gadzoox.com - 15-Apr-1997  

Jaycor Networks Inc.

FibreStar FCH-1063 1063 Mbit/second Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Hub

Contact: Jaycor Networks Inc - 23-July-1997


Prisa

NetFX Loop Hub

Features

Contact: Prisa - 24-Jul-1997


Lextel

FC-2000

The FC-2000 is a 16-port Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop concentrator. It allows convenient construction of a Fibre Channel loop by providing a centralized point to which all loop devices are connected. Nor rewiring or rerouting is necessary if more devices are added to or removed from the loop.

The FC-2000 can be cascaded up to eight times to allow a full 126 device loop to be constructed. An optional optical expansion port can be used to increase the distance between cascaded concentrators. This feature is used in remote device clustering applications.

The FC-2000 concentrator can detect if a port device is missing or powered off. In these cases, the port is automatically bypassed and loop connectivity is maintained.

The FC-2000 also allows the port bypass primitive to control the port. Manual switch control provides network administrators with a quick method to diagnose loop problems.

Central management of the loop concentrator is provided through a serial port. A variety of management options including SNMP are available over this serial port.

Features

Contact: Norm Bagley, Lextel, Inc., P.O. Box 306, Wakefield, MA 01880, USA, Tel: +1 (617)245-5017, Fax: +1 (617) 245-6369


Transoft

StudioBOSS FC Hub

The 9 port Fibre Channel hub can support nine users and/or storage devices and provides routing to all FC devices and users. - 15-Apr-1997

Contact: Transoft Technology Corporation (Transoft)


Vixel CORPORATION

Rapport 1000 Hub

Contact: Vixel - 7-Jan-1998 

CERN - High Speed Interconnect - S-LINK
Erik van der Bij -  24 August 1998 - Disclaimer