Editorial contact:
Lea Schwartz
Point Public Relations
970-225-3753
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SAN FRANCISCO, March 15, 2004 -- The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA), the storage industry's authority on Fibre Channel technology and standards, announced today that the ten millionth port has been shipped since the Fibre Channel industry standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), ten years ago. This port count includes only the components that connect servers to storage systems-hubs, switching products and host bus adapters.
According to Art Edmonds, Chair of FCIA and Chief Security Officer, Hitachi Data Systems, "Fibre Channel technology continues to be the technology at the heart of Storage Area Networks (SANs) installed around the world. Conservative estimates place the number of SAN installations at 100,000 worldwide, moving data from host servers to disk and tape storage devices quickly and securely. One of FCIA's keys to success has been the establishment of the SANmark" Qualification Program, an FCIA initiative to test vendors' devices against stringent performance and interoperability criteria."
"Fibre Channel has grown to be the technology of choice for data centers in virtually all the Fortune 5000 companies," said James Opfer, Principal Storage Analyst for Network Infrastructure and SANs, Gartner Group. "The decision to design switches, host bus adapters and storage devices using Fibre Channel switches continues to be a sound choice, backed by a growing installed base of satisfied users."
The Fibre Channel standard continues to evolve to accommodate new innovations in computing such as blade architectures, embedded switches, and multi-protocol SANs. Available speeds include 1, 2, 4 and 10Gb/s, giving users a wide range of choices, depending on their application needs. The INCITS T11 Committee, developer of the Fibre Channel standard ten years ago, continues to expand the standard to meet new industry storage requirements with the active participation of FCIA member companies.
"The Fibre Channel standard remains as relevant as it was when approved by ANSI in 1993," said Bob Snively, Chair of the INCITS T11 Committee. "New development work in security, fabric management, and fabric applications is positioning Fibre Channel to remain the SAN technology of choice well into the twenty first century."
About SANmark
The SANmark Qualified Program is sponsored, operated, and promoted as an open industry conformance test suite development program within the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA). This program addresses product interoperability and device-level compatibility for companies participating in the program. The program is open to members and nonmembers of the FCIA organization and is intended to benefit the entire storage networking industry at large. More information about SANmark and the FCIA is available at www.sanmark.org.
About FCIA
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is a nonprofit international organization of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers, systems vendors, industry professionals and end users. With approximately 80 member companies and FCIA affiliates in the United States and Japan, FCIA is committed to delivering a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure to support a wide array of industry applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas. FCIA working groups focus on specific aspects of the technology, targeting both vertical and horizontal markets including storage, video, networking and SAN management. For more information on FCIA, please visit our web site: www.fibrechannel.org, contact us:info@fibrechannel.org or call 1-415-561-6270.
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