The Brocade FC-to-FC routing support is designed to interconnect SAN "islands" while segmenting devices connected to them into what it's calling Logical Private SANs (LSANs). LSANs can span fabrics, sharing devices by defining "LSAN zones" that include devices on multiple fabrics. Brocade says devices can exist in multiple LSANs simultaneously.
Kidd says a single Brocade FC router can connect up to 16 independent fabrics and 1,000 devices. "We've designed it so that a network of FC routers can work together so they can connect more than 10,000 devices," he claims.
The iSCSI option allows customers to attach Ethernet-connected servers that use the iSCSI protocol to connect to storage attached to a Brocade SAN. Kidd says that the "primary point of compatibility will be the Microsoft Windows driver," but that the company will also test it with other iSCSI adapter vendors.
Finally, FCIP support enables Brocade SAN customers to reliably extend SANs over long-distance IP networks. If used in conjunction with FC routing, local and remote fabrics can be separate fabrics with LSANs to enable device connection, or they can be merged into a single fabric.
In addition to its SAN extension news, Brocade is announcing the general availability of the AP7420 to OEM and software developer partners. EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) have indicated that they plan to deliver fabric-based storage management applications on the Rhapsody box, and more than a dozen software vendors are also porting their applications to run on it (see V-Switch Alliances Take Shape, Brocade Loads Code, Signs EMC, Brocade Reupholsters Rhapsody, and HP Picks Rhapsody).
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