White Papers, etc

posted on 03 July 2008 13:25

Cisco expects FCOE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) to kick-start 10GbE use to link servers and Ethernet switches although converged, enhanced Ethernet (CEE) isn't ready yet as standards are still being created for this lossless, predictable latency version of Ethernet.

FCOE maps the Fibre Channel protocil onto Ethernet. Fibre Channel protocol requires no lost packets and transmission completin within defined time periods. Currently Ethernet cannot meet thos requirements unless it is provided by specific Ethernet switches such as those from Blade Network technologies.

The IEEE is working on a CEE specification and a basic definition could be agreed by a vote next month.

Cisco reckons that FCOE adoption will occur in three phases with its adoption for linking servers and switches in a phase 1 enabled by CNAs becoming available. It sees a Converged Network Adapter (CNA) costing around $400/port which is less than the price of separate Ethernet NICs and Fibra Channel HBAs (Host Bus Adapters). A 1GbE port costs around $300 though.

Cisco states: "In the second phase, FCoE technology will proliferate, moving to blade servers and to standalone servers attached to unified I/O–capable embedded blade switches and end-of-row (EoR) networking devices. Also, the existing Fibre Channel switches will evolve to support FCoE traffic from blade switches and EoR networking devices"

In the third phase, storage arrays and tape libraries will support native FCoE interfaces. A downloadable Cisco white paper discusses these phases and what is involved in them.

^{[B&F staff.]}

Download file: FCOE white paper.pdf