buck:
I have no doubt that McData's products support all of the fibre channel standards. I never stated otherwise. However, there is a difference between switched fabric and arbitrated loop which is relative to the way the switches interconnect and the devices connect to the switches. I'm not enough of a fibre channel techie to discuss the differences technically. While it's true that a single switch is technically a fabric, the ability to interconnect switches in various configurations, i.e. "cascading", "multi-staging" and "mesh" is critical for configuring a true fabric.
While I'm sure that EMC is selling their Connectrix product, Connectrix is not a switch. It is essentially a SAN that contains, if I'm not mistaken, one or two fibre channel directors supporting up to 64 ports. This is a VERY high end product. However, you will note that there is a 64 port limitation. My understanding is that in a true switched fabric there is no such limitation.
To the best of my knowledge, EMC does not sell a product that contains an 8 or 16 port fibre channel switch. In other words, it would appear that they are not yet participating in the low end of the SAN market. While it's true that McData sells 8 and 16 port fibre channel switches, I have never heard anywhere that these products are technically comparable to Ancor or Brocade's products. This is the reason why I have heard that EMC is looking at switches from other companies.
You're right. My information comes from the Ancor, Brocade and related message boards. In addition, the possibility of an OEM relationship with EMC has been discussed on the last two Ancor earnings conference calls. It's no secret that Ancor has opened a new sales office in Southern New Hampshire, less than an hour from EMC corporate headquarters. Could be a coincidence...
Bob |
