IBM is speaking out! Finally, we see some lights from the end of tunnel. Read it and compare the information from CC, you will have better understanding of what this could possibly mean to Ancor.
IBM Netfinity Fibre Channel Directions
Bringing proven leadership in high availability, performance and
scalability to industry-standard, business-critical solutions
Executive Summary
Today's information technology customers need expandable, high-speed,
networked systems that support business-critical applications for users in
diverse locations. Fibre Channel is a new technology, similar to a high-speed
network, that can be used to connect large amounts of disk storage to a
server or cluster of servers. Fibre Channel technology supports increased
performance, scalability, availability and distance for attaching storage
subsystems to network servers. IBM's Netfinity Fibre Channel products will
provide this technology and the benefits it offers to businesses requiring
enterprise server solutions.
Built on experience from decades of large- and midrange-system leadership,
IBM's Netfinity servers allow businesses of all sizes to build an
industry-standard foundation for their networks with increased availability,
reliability and scalability. IBM is adapting this experience to the Netfinity
product line to provide complete application solutions for today's
industry-standard server marketplace.
Built on experience from decades of large- and midrange-system leadership,
IBM's Netfinity servers allow businesses of all sizes to build an
industry-standard foundation for their networks with increased availability,
reliability and scalability. IBM is adapting this experience to the Netfinity
product line to provide complete application solutions for today's
industry-standard server marketplace. IBM's Netfinity Fibre Channel
solutions will offer you the power, scalability, control and service you need
for your Intel-processor-based servers. During the first half of 1998, IBM
will complete the testing and approval of new Fibre Channel-based
products. In the second half of 1998, IBM will announce hardware and
software products that use Fibre Channel technology, and that provide
complete application solutions for stand-alone and clustered servers.
Looking to 1999 and beyond, IBM will continue to enhance the Netfinity
server product line, focusing on all aspects of computing to further improve
performance and help you reduce the cost of ownership.
This paper offers a brief tutorial on Fibre Channel technology and discusses
the current directions for IBM Netfinity systems. Because of the dynamic
nature of the computer industry, changes may occur in IBM's actual
implementations and timing of product announcements.
What is Fibre Channel?
Fibre Channel is the next generation in high-performance storage interface
technology. It consists of an integrated set of standards that defines new
protocols for flexible information transfer using several interconnection
topologies. These standards have been created by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) committee, with IBM playing a leadership role
as it has done before in the development of many new industry-standard
technologies.
IBM engineers worked on the ANSI committee and helped establish the
three basic Fibre Channel topologies: Fabric, Point-to-Point and Arbitrated
Loop. Each topology contains nodes and ports, which consist of
transceivers and receivers connected together by wiring.
In a fabric topology, the flow of information is controlled by the fabric
(routers or switches) instead of by the ports. In a Point-to-Point topology,
the ports are connected by transmitters and receivers, all of which must be
compatible. In an Arbitrated Loop topology, transmitters are connected to
receivers, but messages not intended for a particular port are passed on until
they reach their designated destinations. The maximum number of ports in an
arbitrated loop is 127.
Fibre Channel combines the standard SCSI command set and protocol with
the flexibility and connectivity of networks. Its ability to attach up to 127
devices using physically longer and smaller cables than SCSI, combined with
its ability to transmit data at up to 100 MBps, makes it an attractive
alternative to SCSI in many cases. Its flexibility and scalability enable it to
handle different protocols simultaneously. This allows a Fibre Channel
network to serve as a high-speed LAN supporting network protocols such
as TCP/IP and to support attachment of storage devices.
The Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) supports the same commands
as a SCSI bus but is wired much like a network, allowing protocol
information to move over longer distances and at greater speeds than with
traditional SCSI bus connections. It is a flexible, easy-to-use solution for
high-speed clustered storage applications.
Advantages of Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel technology supports applications that require very large
amounts of disk storage or clustered storage shared by two or more servers.
With Fibre Channel, you can see a higher throughput rate over longer
distances than is possible with SCSI, and a higher throughput rate than with
IBM's serial storage architecture (SSA). These differences are illustrated in
the following table.
Fibre Channel compared with other interface technologies:
Fibre
Channel
Fast/Wide
SCSI
Ultra/Wide
SCSI
Ultra-2
SCSI
SSA
Distance
Up to 10
km (6 mi.)
with optical
cable Up to
25 m (80
ft) with
copper
Up to 3 m
(10 ft) with
copper
Up to 1.5 m
(5 ft) with
copper
Up to
15 m
(50 ft)
with
copper
Up to 10 km
(6 mi.) with
optical
extensions
Speed (data
transfer
rate)
100 MBps
20 MBps
40 MBps
80
MBps
20-80
MBps
Host
systems per
connection
1-126
1-2
1-2
1-2
1-126
Devices per
connection
127
15
15
15
127
Combining Fibre Channel technology with Netfinity systems and SCSI
storage expansion enclosures (EXP10s) makes the possibilities for scalable,
high-performance solutions almost endless.
The advantages of Fibre Channel include distance, performance, availability
and scalability.
Distance and Performance. With Fibre Channel, greater distances
(up to 10 km [6 mi.]) can be supported. This means that your servers
and the people who use them can be located miles apart and still
share the same storage devices. And Fibre Channel can transfer data
at speeds up to 100 MBps, giving you high performance over
distance for your business-critical applications.
Availability. Businesses can face failures of operating systems or
applications. Disaster recovery can be better managed through the
use of Fibre Channel combined with the appropriate cluster software.
For example, should a failure occur in a clustered environment, your
failover system can be located as far as 10 km (6 mi.) away, and your
work can be transferred to that location without interruption.
Scalability. As businesses grow and become more complex, so do
systems. The flexibility and scalability of Fibre Channel technology
enable you to manage this increased complexity and expand your
current system while protecting your base investment. This is possible
because Fibre Channel technology allows for system expansion by
increasing the number of devices that can be attached per PCI slot.
Another key point is that you can connect more than two host
systems to Fibre Channel; SCSI supports only two.
IBM Netfinity Fibre Channel Strategy
Today's networked business solutions must be able to grow horizontally
through scalable I/O devices. IBM's Netfinity strategy and products support
this growth requirement. Some of the Netfinity products currently supporting
horizontal growth are the ServeRAID II Ultra SCSI adapter, SSA adapters
and the EXP10 external SCSI expansion enclosure.
But tomorrow's computing environments will demand more horizontal
growth, and IBM's Netfinity server strategy is to provide products that meet
these demands. Adoption of Fibre Channel is expected to grow throughout
1998, and to grow significantly toward the end of the year, with complete
horizontal-growth solutions (hardware and software) becoming available in
the second half of the year.
IBM began demonstrating Netfinity Fibre Channel hardware solutions to
customers in the fourth quarter of 1997. Today, IBM is developing different
hardware and software Fibre Channel products as part of comprehensive
computing solutions that meet IBM's requirements for quality, reliability and
performance.
IBM's strategy for introducing Fibre Channel into the Netfinity product line
is:
Develop and test Fibre Channel-based hardware RAID storage
solutions for customers' use and evaluation
Offer total hardware and software solutions, when they are ready,
that meet IBM's high standards for quality, reliability and performance
Test, certify and approve complementary Fibre Channel products
(adapters, RAID controllers, hubs, switches and hard-disk drives) as
the technology matures and new products become available from
multiple sources
By taking these steps, IBM will continue to offer technology leadership with
investment protection and a smooth, cost-effective transition to Fibre
Channel-based solutions when they have been proven ready for
business-critical applications.
For solutions requiring the ultimate in distance, performance and shared
storage by clusters of greater-than-two nodes, IBM will offer the choice of
Fibre Channel or SSA. Both will allow for increased scalability to support
up to multiple terabytes of storage, allowing you to choose the solution that
best fits your business needs.
For most of 1997, customer solutions were based primarily on stand-alone
servers with internal SCSI disks and/or a single, nearby SCSI storage
expansion enclosures. Then, the introduction of the EXP10 in November
1997 made 2-way clustering possible, allowing two servers to share one
external storage device.
In 1998, it is expected that new hardware and software products will begin
shipping that allow more advanced "N-way" clustering solutions to be
configured. This will be done primarily with SCSI disk drives and will
consist of multiple servers sharing multiple expansion enclosures. Fibre
Channel is an excellent technology solution for such applications, offering the
following advantages:
Users and servers no longer need to be near their shared storage
devices.
Solutions for disaster recovery can be provided more easily because
redundant failover elements of the system can be located miles apart.
In 1999, the migration from SCSI disk drives to Fibre Channel will gain
momentum as the industry standard shifts from SCSI to Fibre Channel.
Furthermore, IBM's Fibre Channel solutions will be able to use today's
SCSI disks, storage expansion enclosures and servers. This protects your
current SCSI hardware investments, which often constitute a high
percentage of your total system cost. Native Fibre Channel-attached disk
drives are not readily available today from multiple suppliers and are
incompatible with existing SCSI adapters, enclosures and cables. This is
currently limiting market acceptance of these drives. IBM will support Fibre
Channel-attached disk drives when customer benefits outweigh these
compatibility and supply issues.
Looking further into the future (1999 and beyond), as the number of
vendors producing Fibre Channel hard-disk drives and other system
components (such as Fibre Channel adapters, RAID controllers and
backplanes) increases, these new devices should become more
cost-effective and available. This will allow solutions based entirely on Fibre
Channel to become more prevalent. In fact, it is possible that Fibre Channel
will eventually replace SCSI as the most popular server storage technology.
Given this technology trend, the IBM Netfinity Fibre Channel strategy will
allow you to:
Begin using and evaluating IBM tested and approved Fibre Channel
hardware products (including host adapters, RAID controllers and
hubs) by mid-1998
Start your migration to Fibre Channel when complete hardware and
software solutions become available in the second half of 1998 (and
still protect your existing SCSI disk investments)
Migrate to solutions based entirely on Fibre Channel in 1999 and
beyond, when it is cost-effective and appropriate for your business
needs
Conclusion
Fibre Channel is an emerging, powerful technology for businesses that need
available, reliable, high-speed storage interconnected over long distances. Its
high bandwidth, flexibility and connectivity, coupled with its ability to handle
multiple protocols simultaneously, make it a wise choice for the next
generation in storage interface technology. Ease of use is improved because
of the need for fewer cables and controllers, which makes it attractive to
network planners and administrators. Its scalability allows you to add more
devices per system PCI slot and thus protect and expand your current SCSI
investments. Its ability to transmit data at up to 100 MBps makes it an
outstanding alternative to traditional SCSI connections. And it allows you to
locate your failover system as far as 10 km (6 mi.) away from your
networks and, in the case of an operating system or application failure, work
will be transferred to that location without interruption.
As in the past, IBM is again playing a leadership role in the development of
a new industry-standard technology. Fibre Channel is another step in the
migration of IBM's strengths to industry-standard computing platforms. By
delivering Fibre Channel software and hardware products in 1998, IBM will
continue to be the only vendor to offer a complete range of solutions for
your business-critical needs.
IBM's heritage with campus and enterprise computing, our leadership role in
the development and implementation of new technologies, and IBM
Netfinity products give you the confidence to run your business-critical
systems today and in the future. And with our worldwide service and
support, we'll help you keep your business up and running 7 days a week,
24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Additional Information For more
information on IBM Netfinity directions, products and services, visit our
Web site at www.us.pc.ibm.com/server.
The following white papers are listed under Information Briefs:
IBM Netfinity Technology Directions
IBM Netfinity 8-Way SMP Directions
IBM Netfinity Cluster Directions
System Management for Servers
At Your Service...Differentiation beyond technology
c International Business Machines Corporation 1998
IBM Personal Computer Company
Department MFZA
3039 Cornwallis Road
Research Triangle Park NC 27709
Printed in the United States of America
2-98
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