Technology Overview: Why Fibre Channel Over Ethernet?

Over the past ten years, Fibre Channel (FC) has become the technology of choice for Storage Area Networks (SANs) worldwide. In the process, it has generated a wide range of new storage solutions, including higher-performance block transport, high-availability storage access, streamlined data center operations for backup and data protection, and higher-level storage services based on virtualization and advanced management utilities. Other technical innovations, such as InfiniBand, Network-Attached Storage (NAS), and iSCSI, however, periodically spark temporary debate about Fibre Channel's future and its viability as the next generation SAN transport. As of mid-2008, the Fibre Channel installed base is estimated to be well over 10 million ports.