As interest in extending SANs beyond the data center for disaster recovery applications continues to grow, optical networking players like ADVA AG Optical Networking (Frankfurt: ADV), Cisco, and Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT) are stepping up their focus on extending SANs over metro- and wide-area networks (see our report on Storage Over Optical).
But of these players, only Cisco is positioned to match CNT's ability to offer SAN, MAN, and WAN connectivity from a single supplier. Cisco's eight-port IP services module for its MDS 9509, for example, supports both iSCSI and FCIP protocols. The company also offers CWDM small form-factor pluggable optics for the switch (see Cisco Implants IP in SANs).
CNT believes it has a healthy headstart on Cisco, both in terms of providing features like data compression as well as having its SAN-extension products certified with storage systems vendors. "We have a heritage for storage extension that is completely foreign to [Cisco]," says Walsh. "Please don't think I'm insane -- Cisco is a formidable competitor. But they have some catching up to do."
Walsh adds that CNT's UltraNet Edge router is also able to extend Ficon -- a protocol for accessing mainframe storage over Fibre Channel -- over IP, ATM, and Sonet, although the company is still in the process of getting that certified with the mainframe players. Currently, Cisco's MDS family doesn't support Ficon.
The CWDM card for the FC/9000 comes in two flavors: a 16-Gbit/s 8:1 module (8 Fibre Channel ports multiplexed over one CWDM wavelength), and a 32-Gbit/s 16:2 module. CNT says customers don't need to sacrifice any FC ports to add CWDM connectivity, with a fully loaded 256-port director able to support up to eight CWDM cards. The company did not provide pricing for the cards.
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