Guest Column: Can Fibre Channel (FC) Go The Distance?

By Tim Anderson DCIG, LLC

I have been a long running Fibre Channel (FC) enthusiast since I deployed my first two SAN switches back in 1999 but it seems that since then basic facts about FC have gotten lost along the way. We can all get caught up in the hoopla of new and slick storage technology features and lose sight of some the most important and basic details that keep our storage fabrics up and humming. Among these are the Fibre Channel cabling infrastructures and the distance limitations incurred by continued increases in FC speeds. These are the ones that can be easily, but inappropirately, overlooked inside the data center.