2 from Zoox today:
Gadzoox Networks and Lucent Technologies Partner On New Standard for Integrating Fibre Channel SANS and IP Networks
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000--
New IPFC Specification Provides Standard for Using IP Networks
to Interconnect SAN Islands
Gadzoox Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOOX), a leading provider of SAN
(storage area network) products today announced that it has partnered
with Lucent Technologies to jointly develop a new specification to
enable the transmission of Fibre Channel SAN traffic over Internet
Protocol (IP) networks. The IPFC specification, presented by Gadzoox
and Lucent to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), allows
widely deployed IP networks such as local area networks (LANs),
metropolitan area networks (MANs) and wide area networks (WANs), to
interconnect SAN islands over a broad range of distances. Networks
employing IPFC can realize the economy of using existing wiring and
established IP protocols to supplement the performance, security and
scalability of SANs.
"IPFC will enable networks to stretch SANs across long distances
so that multiple locations can provide distributed storage, data
backup or mirroring," said Elizabeth Rodriguez of Lucent Technologies.
"Lucent's interconnect expertise coupled with Gadzoox' command of SAN
technology are blended into the IPFC specification, which we believe
will create an entirely new way for organizations to address their
storage needs."
The IPFC specification, which Gadzoox and Lucent expect to be
finalized in late 2000, calls for seamless interconnection of Fibre
Channel SANs, routers and IP media, all over virtually limitless
distances.
"With IPFC, the existing IP network serves as the media, so no one
will need to 'reinvent the wheel' when developing an enterprise-wide
SAN," said Murali Rajagopal, Gadzoox Networks senior manager of
product engineering and chair of the IETF's IPFC committee. "This
specification will help organizations leverage readily available LAN,
MAN and WAN connections to join SAN islands around the block or around
the world."
The IPFC specification proposes a standardized method to:
-0-
*T
-- connect SAN islands using IP as the packet media
-- use existing IP infrastructures to carry Fibre Channel over
LANs, MANs, and WANs
-- be able to use any link-level technology that carries IP
-- use IP protocols that address security, performance and data
integrity
-- transmit Fibre Channel SAN payloads transparently over the IP
network that interconnects SAN islands
The proposal allows multiple autonomous regions to be connected
over a network backbone, offering several advantages:
-0-
*T
-- isolation of Fibre Channel address assignment and containment
within each region
-- protection from disruptions in Fibre Channel networks
-- multiple point-to-point links between Fibre Channel border
switches
-- transparent mechanism for Fibre Channel protocols
-- allowing Fibre Channel border switches to run a routing
protocol in the Fibre Channel plane above the IP plane
-- enabling IP to use its own routing protocols to route packets
For more information on the IPFC specification, see
www.ietf.org/html.charters/ipfc-charter.html.
---------------------------------------
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000--
Gigabit Ethernet Routing Leverages IP's Ubiquitous Infrastructure
and Quality of Service Capabilities to Deliver Advanced SAN-Based
Disaster Tolerance Solutions
Gadzoox(R) Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOOX), a leading provider of
SAN (storage area network) products, today announced that the company
will be demonstrating the industry's first fibre channel to gigabit
Ethernet router at the Networld+Interop 2000 Conference in Las Vegas,
Nevada, May 9-11. For users seeking to implement a business
continuance strategy through the real-time replication of data between
remote sites, gigabit Ethernet routing provides a new alternative with
lower connectivity costs and enhanced reliability. Through this
demonstration Gadzoox Networks reaffirms its commitment to providing
the technological advancements required to enable continuous access to
mission critical data.
"SANs have been localized islands, which are great, but not enough
allow for remote storage requirements. IP is a standards based
mechanism that everyone is comfortable with for wide-area
connections." says Steve Duplessie, Sr. Analyst with The Enterprise
Storage Group. The marriage of the two technologies makes perfect
sense. By being able to continue with IP, since it's quality of
service and management functions are well established, SAN users now
have a viable medium for long distance storage architectures, namely
gigabit ethernet. This will further accelerate SAN adoption rates."
In the emerging phases of the market, SAN deployments have been
driven by specific business application needs such as online
transaction processing, LAN-free backup and high availability
clustering. And, while localized SAN "islands" have provided solutions
for these application needs, the absence of long distance connectivity
capabilities have posed a barrier for large enterprises and service
providers that need to interconnect remote SAN islands for the purpose
of data replication and restoration. Fibre channel to gigabit Ethernet
routing offers a remote connectivity solution by routing traffic from
a SAN through the gigabit Ethernet backbone to a wide area network
router where it can be transmitted over a broad range of distances to
another SAN.
"By providing an easy method for accessing SANs through the
existing IP networks, the benefits of storage area networks can be
more readily realized by businesses that rely on remote sites," said
Dave Tang, Gadzoox Networks vice president of marketing. "With this
innovative approach, application service providers, Internet service
providers, storage service providers and enterprise users with remote
data centers can deploy distributed SANs without having to build a new
infrastructure or bear the cost of dark fiber."
The development of fibre channel to gigabit Ethernet routing
provides a compelling alternative to the existing methods for remote
SAN connectivity since it adds quality of service capabilities to SAN
traffic. Since fibre channel does not offer any quality of service
capabilities, it requires either dedicated point-to-point connections
or addition error recovery methods. As outlined in the strategic
initiative announcement released last month, Gadzoox is committed to
the partnerships and joint development efforts that will help deliver
a broad range of optimized solutions for individual user needs. In
addition to the gigabit Ethernet router, Gadzoox is also pursuing
solutions based on fibre channel, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and
dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) technologies. The company has
also partnered with Lucent Technologies to develop new standards for
the transmission of fibre channel SAN traffic over IP networks.
"To deliver true solutions to the marketplace, SANs must connect
with and leverage existing and emerging network technologies," said
Wayne Rickard, Gadzoox Networks senior vice president of research and
development. "Unlike point products that are limited in capability and
extensibility, the modular architecture of our hub, switch and router
products is designed to take advantage of complementary technologies
to provide highly integrated and purposeful solutions."
Gadzoox Networks Offers Broad Line of SAN Products
Gadzoox, a leader in the SAN market, offers a broad range of
advanced products including Bitstrip(TM) (gigabit Fibre Channel hub),
Gibraltar(TM) (managed Fibre Channel hub), Ventana(TM) (SAN management
software application), Capellix(TM) 2000 (stackable SAN switch) and
the performance record-setting(1) Capellix(TM) 3000 (modular SAN
switch). |
