Gadzoox Networks Announces Industry's First Switch Port Designed to
Support 80 Kilometer Connectivity Between SAN Data Centers
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000--
New Xport Plug-In Module Adds Extended Fibre Channel Distance Capabilities to Capellix' Record Setting Switch
Performance
Gadzoox Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZOOX), a leading provider of SAN (storage area network) products, today announced the
introduction of Xport, the industry's first SAN switch port designed specifically to support extended fibre channel link
distances of up to 80 kilometers. For users seeking to connect SAN data centers across MAN (metropolitan area network)
distances to enable data sharing, remote storage management and disaster tolerance, Xport provides a high performance
connectivity solution that minimizes the effects of link latency through a specially designed over-sized port buffer. Without
Xport, existing SAN switches suffer degraded performance or lose functionality of switch ports. When combined with
extended distance transceivers, such as Finisar Corporation's Model FTR-1519 gigabit interface converter (GBIC), the
Gadzoox Xport feature delivers 80 kilometer distance capability without sacrifice to the record-setting(1) performance of the
Capellix switch engine.
"Xport works because of the Gadzoox architecture. Most others isolate buffer space to specific ports, not allowing a large
enough global buffer to consistently handle all ports in the switch. This distinct advantage will allow Capellix users to take
advantage of extended distances without additional, expensive repeaters. The global buffer schema keeps the pipe full at
80km distances, allowing for full 100MB/second fibre channel implementations to span larger geographies, which is great
for the user," states Steve Duplessie, Sr. Analyst with research firm the Enterprise Storage Group.
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 to these applications, the ability to interconnect these islands over long distances for disaster recovery
has not been adequately addressed. The most obvious approach to connecting remote SAN installations is to use the
same technology, fibre channel, that is used to connect the devices within the localized SAN islands. Until now, however,
there have been two limitations that have prevented the use of fibre channel for extended distances.
One limitation has been in the availability of transceivers that support distances of greater that 10 kilometers. This
limitation has now been addressed by Finisar with their 80 kilometer GBIC. Secondly, is the issue of SAN switch designs
which did not provide enough buffering to mask the amount of time, or latency, it takes to "fill" a long distance link with
data and allow it to be continuously fed with data. The new Xport feature from Gadzoox now addresses this limitation by
providing an over-sized buffer that enables connections of up to 80 kilometers to run at sustained fibre channel speeds of
up to 100 megabytes per second. Without Xport, switches cannot sustain full bandwidth data transfers because their
under-sized buffer cannot fill the length of the connection. As a result, sustained full bandwidth data transfers are not
possible and the effective data throughput is reduced as the standard switch port is forced to "breathe" between smaller
bursts of data.
"By providing a method for accessing SANs over long distances with fibre channel, the Capellix switch with Xport plug-in
module provides a high performance, integrated solution for connecting remote SAN sites," said Joel Warford, Gadzoox
Networks senior director of product marketing. "Unlike alternatives that require multiple networking devices or suffer from
degraded performance, Capellix provides a single, modular switch solution that now combines the industry's fastest
switching engine with the industry's highest performance, longest distance link support."
The development of the Xport capabilities along with Gadzoox Networks Capellix SAN switch provides the industry's
longest fibre channel connectivity offered today. 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 Xport, Gadzoox is also pursuing solutions based on gigabit Ethernet,
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.
Pricing and Availability
Xport as an optional plug-in module for the Capellix 3000 modular switch has a suggested list price of $3,995. The
Finisar(2) FTR-1519 GBIC is available from Gadzoox at a suggested list price of $4,495. General availability of the Xport
plug-in module is expected within the current quarter.
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).
About Gadzoox Networks, Inc.
Gadzoox Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZOOX) is a leader in SAN (storage area network) products. The Company provides
networking solutions for enterprise storage with scalable, managed SAN solutions based on Gadzoox' Fibre Channel hubs,
switches and management products. Serving as modular building blocks, Gadzoox' products are designed to address the
growth in enterprise data through the evolving capabilities of SANs. According to the most recent report from market
research firm IDC dated February 2000, Gadzoox holds the largest installed base of combined switch and managed hub
port shipments from 1997 through 1999(3). Gadzoox is an ISO 9001 certified Company. Gadzoox corporate headquarters
is located at: 5850 Hellyer Avenue, San Jose, CA 95138. For more information, visit the company's Web site at
www.gadzoox.com (http://www.gadzoox.com) or call 888/423-3222. |
