Storage Networking Architectures
Network Metrics
Serial Architecture
• Serial architecture can use copper or optical fibre
• Reduces cost and complexity of link cabling
(compared to parallel architecture)
• Long links because clock and data in same signal
• Easily scaled for higher link rates
• Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and Gigabit Ethernet are
designed to use the same basic physical
components and signalling techniques.
– GbE optical connections share physical protocols with
FC and IB
– GbE copper connections use different physical protocols
Gigabit Ethernet complies with the same standards set by Fibre Channel FC-0
and FC-1 specifications.
We will look at the definition of the Fibre Channel layers in a later module, but
Gigabit Ethernet and 1Gb/s Fibre Channel can both run over the same type of
optical cables and they share a common connector. They also use the same
8b/10b encoding scheme so they can share many common components
although they do run at slightly different clock rates.