The FC-SW and FC-BB specifications define a type of port called a Bridge Port (B_Port). B_Ports are found on bridging devices, such as FCIP bridges. The B_Port on the bridging device connects to an E_Port on a FC switch.
Each interconnection is called a FCIP Link and can contain one or more TCP connections. The FCIP Link carries TCP-encapsulated Fibre Channel traffic between Link End Points (LEPs) over an IP network. E_Ports communicate over the IP network using standard FC SW_ILS frames, just like normally interconnected E_Ports communicate over a normal ISL. All of the standard FC SW_ILS functions are supported, including FSPF, the Build Fabric (BF) and Reconfigure Fabric (RCF) processes, RSCNs, and zoning. B_Ports do not perform any proxy functions for standard FC naming or flow control.
B_Port implementations provide one-to-one connectivity.