A Case for Convergence Enhanced Ethernet: Requirements and Applications

Today, InfiniBand fits well in cluster convergence scenarios where performance is critical, but Ethernet fits better in mid-sized and multi-tier server fabric convergence environments where storage based on NAS and iSCSI are used. However in large enterprises where storage availability, security, quality, etc. are important, the dominant storage solution is based on Fibre Channel (FC), resulting in separate networks for storage, LAN, and IPC traffic. Convergence Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) is the name given to a set of Ethernet enhancements that enable FC convergence with Ethernet.