AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) today announced that the T11 Technical Committee adopted a common addressing structure for the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard. FCoE enables SAN traffic to be natively transported over Ethernet networks, while protecting and extending the investment that customers have made in Fibre Channel storage networks. A common addressing structure allows products to be built by the industry to a single standard. This new feature is supported by the following Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) members: Amphenol Corporation, Broadcom, Brocade, Cisco Systems, Corning Cable Systems, EMC, Emulex Corporation, Finisar Corporation, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel Corporation, LSI, Mellanox Technologies, NetApp, Nuova Systems, PMC-Sierra, QLogic Corporation and TrueFocus, Inc.
"The timely adoption of this latest proposal demonstrates the continuing cooperation among Fibre Channel companies", says Chris Lyon Executive Director of the FCIA. "FCoE promises to provide data center managers with a converged network, combining both Fibre Channel and Ethernet fabrics, which will simplify management and provide greater efficiencies."
FCoE offers a new choice for consolidated server I/O connectivity in the data center. This will result in a greater quantity of servers having access to Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks than today. FCoE complements today's existing connectivity and protocols used in storage and data center networking. User benefits of this technology include:
* Seamless extension and protection of existing storage investments * Lower, long-term operating costs via consolidated connectivity and management * A management model consistent with that used in Fibre Channel SANs * A unified data center fabric that meets the reliability, latency, and performance requirements for storage and broader data center connectivity * Additional server connectivity options for more cost-effective data center networking * Reduction in multiple server I/O and parallel network infrastructure commonly used in data centers
Additional information on FCoE is available on the FCIA website: www.FibreChannel.org/FCoE.html.
About FCIA
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is a non-profit international organization whose sole purpose is to act as the independent technology and marketing voice of the Fibre Channel industry. We are committed to helping member organizations promote and position Fibre Channel, and to providing a focal point for Fibre Channel information, standards advocacy, and education. FCIA members include manufacturers, system integrators, developers, vendors, industry professionals, and end users. Our member-led working groups and committees focus on creating and championing the Fibre Channel technology roadmaps, targeting applications that include data storage, video, networking, and storage area network (SAN) management. For more info, go to http://www.fibrechannel.org