However a comparable iSCSI solution (or for VMware, NFS), will cost less to purchase and install. After all, a dual port Intel 10Gbps NIC is just $645 at CDW where an Emulex or Qlogic CNA is over a thousand. The real savings comes in the switch, since Cisco charges $8000 for the FCoE software option on a Nexus 5000. If you use DCB NICs and switches, you'll get the same lossless transport as FCoE, and recent tests by Demartek and NetApp show similar performance for iSCSI and Fibre Channel or FCoE with only a two-to-four percent CPU utilization penalty.
If you have thousands of servers, multiple Fibre Channel directors and use Fibre Channel management software like SANscreen, VirtualWisdom or Storage Essentials to closely manage your SANs, you're the target market for FCoE. Since Qlogic and Emulex HBAs and FCoE switches follow the same management paradigms as their FC counterparts, your tools will continue to work just fine.
While the FC suppliers promise that 16Gbps FC products are coming soon, I remain somewhat skeptical. With 10--and soon 40Gbps FCoE as a competitor--16Gbps FC is going to be low-volume, and therefore high-priced, product. By the time 32Gbps FC is ready, I'm guessing it might not be worth the R&D to get it to market as there will be too few ports to amortize the costs.
Those in the middle of the spectrum have a more difficult decision. If someone asks to see your SAN and you point at your one Clariion or Magnitude, I would suggest iSCSI could be in your future. If you have multiple arrays and several FC switches, FCoE might be an easier transition to converged networking than iSCSI as iSCSI/FC bridges have never been a popular option and may not get the 10Gbps DCB upgrade.
A final note to managers who may read this blog: techies love new technologies and may be asking you to buy the shiny new tech to get the experience and/or training to prepare themselves for their next jobs. Make sure you see proposals for several alternatives not just the Cisco-FCoE-EMC combo.
