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To: Mr. Twister who wrote (20483)	1/29/1999 6:49:00 PM
From: Greg Hull	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29386

There is a special report in the January issue of Lightwave entitled Broadcast companies embrace Fibre Channel over fiber by Stephen Hardy, Editor in Chief. I tried to find it on their web site light-wave.com but I could not find the January issue. Here are a few snippets that caught my eye: "Yet, there are signs that SANs have found a home in at least one application area: broadcast television and motion picture production. Production houses may prove the breakout application that propels Fibre Channel SANs into widespread use" "Until recently, production houses worked exclusively with videotape ... The quality of the tape deteriorated each time it was copied..." "So what we've been looking for, for a couple years, is a system that allows all of us to work on the same central storage, and have the speed that we needed. And, hence, Fibre Channel fit that need" "Whereas most houses record programs on videotape, then digitize the tape, Premier runs its video signals directly from the cameras within its inhouse sound stage into its storage facilities." "It's just gotten out of control. It's all about memory or storage, says Smith. The ability of the company's FC network to accommodate large data files has allowed Premier to use data storage as a competitive advantage. ... we almost basically just rent them out storage. So that's why your storage [need] continuously increases" Hubs versus switches "One area of contention that has appeared early in FC applications is the question of whether to base a user's new network on a hub or switch. ... We wish we had a switch, to be honest, admits Andrews. The hub is fine, but it's still software arbitration as to who gets to write to what, which is not the best way to do it. It works, but it's not ideal. A switch is a better way to go and we know that." "Most people will purchase a hub over a switch, reports Narmore. We would recommend [a switch] for the larger networks, but understand a switch is like $50,000. So you're talking about a huge, huge price increase. Transoft's in-house expertise centers on networking software, so it acquires its FC hardware from OEMs. It currently offers a 7-port hub for $1995, and a 10-port optical hub for $3995. But while a 4-port fabric switch starts at $18,000, the most commonly used switch, a 16-port unit, costs $50,000." "Smith paid the extra money for a switch at Premier Communications after starting his FC experience with a hub. In addition to offering network efficiencies, the switch offers more flexibility by allowing systems to be dropped or added to the network easily" "I mean, it's come to be expected in the post-production industry that you have some sort of FC connection." "For example, Andrews says that a FC switch would have to cost between $5000 and $10,000 before it reached his 'ideal' range." I know that some of the contributors on this thread have video/film experience. I would appreciate any comments or embellishments that you could add. Greg

To: Mr. Twister who wrote (20483)	1/29/1999 7:21:00 PM
From: Mr. Twister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

I am going to correct myself. I forgot that we downticked on the open, and in fact, opened at 7 1/2 down from yesterdays close. Because of this, we did not form a doji star today. Andrew