What does Fibre Channel mean?
It is a high-speed, high-bandwidth serial protocol for channels and networks that interconnect over twisted-pair wires, coaxial cable or fiber optic cable. The “fabric” topology of Fibre Channel offers up to 16 million ports with cable lengths of up to 10 kilometers. SCSI will use the lower cost “Arbitrated Loop” topology (FC-AL) of Fibre Channel. FC-AL using fiber optic media offers speeds of up to 100 MBytes/sec and up to 127 ports all connected in serial with up to 25 meters between ports. Fibre Channel on copper wiring is available in several versions from 12.5 MBytes/sec with up to 100 meters of cable to 100 MBytes/sec with up to 25 meters of cable. It does not require ID switches or terminators. The FC-AL loop may be connected to a Fibre Channel “fabric” for connection to other nodes. SCSI on FC-AL will be expensive and will require some changes to software as well as hardware.
