Equipment using 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel is expected to emerge in mid-2004, both in SAN switches and back-end storage connections. The SAN side was expected to skip directly to 10 Gbit/s, taking advantage of the components being developed for 10-Gbit/s Ethernet and OC192 Sonet, but an aggressive push led by QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq: QLGC) helped the 4-Gbit/s SAN idea take hold (see FC Fires Up 4-Gig Fiesta).
The jump to 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel from 2 Gbit/s presents few technical difficulties. But the move to 10-Gbit/s Fibre Channel could be tough, and some are wondering if the 4-Gbit/s diversion will delay the research that's necessary to make 10-Gbit/s Fibre Channel work.
"Are they shooting themselves in the foot by doing 4 Gbit/s instead of accelerating 10 Gbit/s? Time will tell," says one transceiver vendor official who requested anonymity.
The uses for 10-Gbit/s Fibre Channel might be limited anyway.
"There is room for 10-Gbit/s Fibre Channel, but we see that as primarily a switch-to-switch interconnect," Anders says. For 10-Gbit/s connections beyond the data center, he believes it possible that Fibre Channel would be encapsulated into Sonet or IP rather than sent as 10-Gbit/s Fibre Channel.
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