Fibre Channel Details in Simple English
Following is a simple table to assist our partners and their customers to better understand the required details regarding Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks. 2 important areas you first need to understand before proceeding is:

1) Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks, also known as "SAN", are designed not to compete against the traditional Ethernet Network Topology but rather compliments it. It's a back end Storage Network designed for massive data transfer between servers and storage devices whereas Ethernet is a network utilized for data transfer of smaller packet sizes between servers and workstations.

2) The term "Fibre" is used in 2 different ways, thus confusing the distribution/reseller channel and their customers further. It can mean:


i) The Protocol officially known as Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FCAL). Just like TCP/IP or IPX/SPX is running in a Networking Environment over Ethernet, Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks runs FCAL over SCSI as its protocol. Therefore, the main targeted competition for Fibre Channel is SCSI and not Ethernet, or

ii) The physical cable itself is often referred to as Fibre although Fibre Channel often runs over copper cabling and not only over fibre optics. In fact, many customers have fibre optic cabling installed on their networking side of the topology. This is often running ATM over FDDI. Although the cabling is similar in using fibre optic medium, the protocols are completely different and should not be confused as one for the other.

Please read the chart below to better understand Fibre Channel by using Ethernet as a reference point. If all else fails, please give us a call at (514) 253-5200 or email


Local Area Network (LAN) Storage Area Network (SAN)
Hub Ethernet:10 Megabit Per Second (1 Megabyte Per Second)
Fast Ethernet: 100 Megabit Per Second (10 Megabyte Per Second)
Gigabit Ethernet: 1,000 Megabit Per Second (100 Megabyte Per Second)
 FCAL: 1,062 Megabit Per Second (100 Megabyte Per Second
Switch 10/100/1,000 Mbit Per Port 1,062 Mbit Per Port (100 Megabyte/Second Per Port)
Connectors on
Hub/Switch		 RJ45 DB9 for Copper, Dual SC for Optical. Switches uses Hot Pluggable GBIC (Gigabit Interface Converters) available in:
DB9 for Copper Cablings to 30 Meters
Short Wave Multi-Mode for Optical to 500M
Long Wave Single-Mode for Optical to 10KM
Cabling Category 5 Ethernet Copper Media: DB9-DB9 or DB9-HSSDC
Short Wave Laser: 50 micron/125 micro Multi-Mode Cable
Long Wave Laser: 9 micron/125 micro Single-Mode Cable
Host Bus Adapter PCI Controller - ie. Adaptec, ATTO, etc. Installs into Server's PCI Bus Slot. PCI Controller - ATTO, Emulex, Interphase, Jaycor, Qlogic, etc. Installs into Server's PCI Bus Slot.
Connectors on Host Bus Adapter RJ45 DB9 or HSSDC (High Speed Serial Direct Connect)
Cable Length 100 Meters Copper Cablings to 30 Meters
Short Wave Multi-Mode for Optical to 500M
Long Wave Single-Mode for Optical to 10KM
Architecture Collision Based in a Star Configuration Token Based in a Loop Configuration
Plug & Play Yes. Constant polling of the ports for new servers or workstations. No. Requires reboot of the server(s) to scan new device installed. Thus, less overhead from a constant packet scanning the ports.
Applications Communications between Servers and Workstations. Data Transfer between Servers and Storage Devices.