Technology of Tomorrow

What is Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)?

At the highest level, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is Fibre Channel connectivity but over a new transport mechanism. Technically, FCoE refers to encapsulated Fibre Channel frames connecting servers with Fibre Channel storage over a new, enhanced Ethernet referred to as Convergence Enhanced Ethernet (CEE).

CEE, an enhanced version of Ethernet, is an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize connectivity within data centers. It can do this because of its capability of supporting different interconnect technologies, including Fibre Channel, at the same time. Designed to take advantage of 10 gigabit Ethernet, CEE shares bandwidth across applications with disparate performance profiles. It is capable of supporting low-latency, no loss communication that is required by high-performance computing environments and that typically requires traditional Fibre Channel networks.

By converging networks with CEE, a data center can reduce the number of its specialized networks. Network consolidation can further reduce the number of network switches and server/blade network interconnects required, leading to cost savings while lowering data center complexity.

So what is the future of FCoE?

Industry leaders in the storage, switch, and host bus adapter sector have been adopting FCoE. Cisco, Brocade, Qlogic, Emulex, EMC, and NetApp are just some of the data networking innovators that have announced their support for FCoE.

Despite the support of such industry heavyweights, obstacles to mainstream adoption remain. These include a lack of an accepted FCoE standard, cost of deployment, lack of maturity, existing deployments of traditional Fibre Channel storage area networks, and internal politics.

And what about iSCSI?

Though less expensive than traditional Fibre Channel storage networks, iSCSI has struggled to achieve broad adoption. Some blame performance concerns; others blame lack of functionality and reliability. Regardless, iSCSI may still have a role in the evolution of storage networks.

CEE, FCoE, and iSCSI all benefit from the emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet. As 10 Gigabit Ethernet becomes more pervasive, new and existing networking technologies will become the new data center standards. While it is too early to say what protocols will emerge, it is not too early to begin thinking about FCoE and what a converged network would mean to your data center.