Cisco 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel

The Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module delivers uncompromising performance with 10-Gbps link bandwidth, 80 Gbps of continuous aggregate bandwidth per module, and the intelligence and advanced features required to make multilayer storage area networks (SANs) a reality. Delivering over five times the effective link bandwidth of 2-Gbps Fibre Channel products, the Cisco 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module includes hardware-enabled innovations designed to dramatically improve performance, scalability, availability, security, and manageability of storage networks, resulting in increased utility and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

The Cisco 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module is hot-swappable and includes hot-swappable, X2 form-factor pluggable, SC type interfaces. Individual ports can be configured with short-wave or long-wave X2 optical transceivers for connectivity up to 10 kilometers. Up to 250 buffer credits per port are supported for maximum extensibility without requiring additional licensing. With the optional Cisco Enterprise Package, up to 4095 buffer credits can be allocated to an individual port, enabling full link bandwidth over thousands of kilometers with no degradation in link utilization. Ultrahigh per-port bandwidth makes the Cisco 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module ideal for Inter-Switch Link (ISL) connectivity, both within the data center and between data centers across metro optical networks.

With its multiprotocol capability, the Cisco 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module easily integrates IBM Fiber Connection (FICON) protocol, FICON Control Unit Port (CUP) management, and switch cascading to facilitate mainframe connectivity. Virtual SANs (VSANs) allow hardware-based separation of Fibre Channel and FICON traffic switched on a single physical SAN, increasing overall TCO without compromising scalability, availability, manageability, and network security.

The Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module is compatible all MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors as well as MDS DWDM-XFP-50.92= and MDS 9216i multilayer fabric switches providing outstanding value and investment protection. Figure 1 shows a Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module.

Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module