Storage Networking Architectures
Storage Transport Protocols
Why Fibre Channel?
• Far more scalable than Parallel SCSI DAS:
– More bandwidth
– Longer distances
– Many more devices
• Proven and reliable
• Supports many applications
• Based on open standards
• Wide industry support
Fibre Channel has evolved to become the dominant SAN foundation
technology because:
It provides high bandwidth (1Gb/s since 1995, 2Gb/s since 2001, 4Gb/s
since 2004 and 8Gb/s since 2007) staying a big step ahead of SCSI
bandwidth development).
It supports long distances (measured in hundreds and thousands of
meters instead of dozens of meters).
It supports many devices (thousands of devices feasible in practice
versus 8 or 16 devices per SCSI bus)
It is a proven and reliable technology.
It supports many protocols and applications.
It is based on open standards, allowing many vendors to compete to
produce the best products.
Its support for open standards has helped gain Fibre Channel support
from the entire storage marketplace.