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Further development is hampered by the inability of computers to communicate and share data. Existing interfaces are either too slow, work over only a short distance, or lack sufficient bandwidth.
Enter Fibre Channel - a high-performance interconnect standard that provides bi-directional serial communication between any two points. Fibre Channel is a flexible interface that supports multiple protocols and topologies. It uses hardware functionally to rapidly move large and small amounts of data over long distances. But most importantly, it defines a new paradigm in communications interfaces: channel networking.
Channels have traditionally operated in closed, hardware-intensive environments where the addresses of all devices are known to the operating system. This yields fast and reliable data, but works in inflexible structures limited to short distances.
However, networks are flexible and work over long distances. They operate in an environment of unanticipated connections and handle an extensive range of tasks. Networks have their own limitations. Since they operate in unreliable environments, networks are software intensive, spending considerable effort on error detection and recovery.
Fibre Channel unites these two diverse camps. It combines the speed and reliability of channel communication with the flexibility and extended reach of a network. Fibre Channel provides high-performance, reliable communication over distances up to 10 kilometers.
This is possible because Fibre Channel is a dedicated data handler, not unlike the telephone system. As an example, when someone places a call, the phone system routes the call though various switches until it arrives at its destination. During the call, the phone system handles routing and error detection. It evens adjusts the path if necessary.
Fibre Channel operates in much the same way. It works through a unique interconnection array called a fabric. (The fabric is a logical entity that connects physical elements so they can communicate). Each device on the system, whether a workstation, supercomputer, or simply a processor and hard disc, connects to the fabric. The source device makes the link to the fabric then routes data to the destination device. The fabric handles not only all station management functions: message routing, addressing, and error detection, but it also leaves all communication responsibilities to the source and destination devices.
Since it works independent of communications protocols, Fibre Channel can support all existing networks, protocols, and software. Fibre channel also is topology independent-supporting dedicated, point to point, switch and arbitrated loop topologies.
Fibre Channel features numerous common services including striping, hunt, broadcast and multimedia. Furthermore, it has low latency, performs error detection in hardware, uses the proven 8B/10B coding scheme for reliable communication and provides full-duplex, serial communication over distances of up to 10 kilometers per link at speeds of up to 1 gigabit/sec.
Fibre Channel is fast and scalable. It operates at 133 megabits per second, 266 mbps, 531 mbps, or 1 Gigabit per second. It has the capacity to address up to 16 million addresses. And, unlike traditional networks that must share bandwidth among all users, adding more users to Fibre Channel increases effectively the overall bandwidth of the network.
Overall, this means that managers can select the topology that supports their needs and those of their users instead of subordinating the design to the physical and logical limitations of a particular channel or network technology. It means a system can easily grow and accommodate new technology. Fibre Channel allows a means to solve todays bottleneck problems while allowing expansion in the future.
Fibre Channel product data sheets are available at our web page. Please check out the Fibre Channel section of our main product page:
http://www.kmj.com/products.html
