Heterogeneous Fibre Channel Network At Networld+Interop
Business Wire - April 29, 1998 11:13
%BROCADE-COMMUNICATIONS %CALIFORNIA %NEVADA %COMPUTERS %ELECTRONICS %COMED %ADVISORY %TRADESHOW V%BW P%BW
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--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
WHERE:
Brocade booth No. 8234, Networld+Interop May 5-7 in Las Vegas
WHAT:
Brocade will demonstrate for the first time its exclusive ZONING
service, enabling a heterogeneous environment by delineating
eight different zones for simultaneous UNIX, NT and SGI system
solutions on the same Fabric. Brocade ZONING enables the
configuration of Fabric-connected devices on a Server-Storage
Area Network (SAN) into logical subsets within the physical
Fabric.
The Brocade demonstration will feature three interconnected
Brocade SilkWorm family switches in a true network of servers and
storage. The Brocade Fabric clearly demonstrates the increased
scalability and flexibility that a Fibre Channel switch can
provide over hubs, without sacrificing bandwidth performance. No
other Fibre Channel switch vendor can interconnect, or cascade,
switches to build a network Fabric.
In total, the Brocade Fabric demonstration will include over 1/2
terabyte of storage running on arbitrated loops connected to
SilkWorm FL_Ports. Additionally, Brocade will demonstrate over a
gigabyte per second of aggregate throughput on the three-switch
Fabric.
Highlights of the Brocade ZONING service to be demonstrated include:
-- ZONE 1 -- This zone demonstrates the scalable bandwidth that
the Brocade Fabric can manage high throughput-intensive
applications. Four SGI 02 workstations, each using a Prisa
Networks' PCI Fibre Channel adapter (for IP and SCSI), will each
access and playback uncompressed video clips through independent
streams from two Unisys JBOD's (Just a Bunch of Disks). Total
aggregate throughput on the switch for all four videos will be up
to 240MB/sec.
-- ZONES 3, 4, AND 5 -- These three zones demonstrate the ability of
the Fabric administrator to segregate UNIX and NT systems,
preventing access to the others' disk while allowing them to
share the same tape library for disk benchmarking and backup. A
Sun workstation with a Jaycor Networks SBus adapter card, and an
Intel-based NT workstation with an Emulex PCI adapter card, will
occupy zones 3 and 5, each with their own CLARiiON JBOD.
Additionally, both the Sun and NT systems are included in zone 4
with an Exabyte tape library connected through a Crossroads
Crosspoint Fibre Channel bridge/router. Intelliguard software
arbitrates/controls the backup process, tracking and scheduling
the files to be saved from each system.
-- ZONES 6 AND 7 -- These two zones demonstrate the ability of the
Fabric administrator to divide a single storage array into two
different zones. Zones 6 and 7 each include an NT workstation
with an Interphase PCI adapter card (for both IP and SCSI). The
two zones share a Sun A5000 disk array, with each NT system zoned
to access half of the array (configured as two JBODs, seven
drives each).
Brocade will also demonstrate, and allow show attendees to surf
the company's new WEB TOOLS, another Brocade Fibre Channel
network exclusive feature. Brocade WEB TOOLS include a graphical
user interface (GUI), as well as an "Expert Administrator"
function that automatically pops up a dialog box alerting users
to problems and providing a solution diagnosis.
CONTACT:
Sari Gallagher, Brocade Communications Systems Inc.
Phone: 714/595-8792 Email: sgallagher@brocade.com
CONTACT: Brocade Communications Systems Inc.
Sari Gallagher, 714/595-8792
sgallagher@brocade.com
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