Short for Fibre Channel over Ethernet, FCoE is a
standard for using the Fibre Channelprotocol over Ethernet
networks. FCoE is expected to enable SAN traffic to
be natively transported over Ethernet networks, while protecting and extending
the investment enterprises have made in storage networks. FCoE uses Ethernet
cards, cables and switches to route Fibre Channel traffic at the
link layer, and uses Ethernet to transmit the FC protocol. FCoE
basically would enable organizations and
enterprises to continue to run Fibre Channel over the same wires as their
data networks. The goal of FCoE is to reduce management
complexity, reduce time to deployment, lower capital and operating costs and
lower power utilization.
The FCoE specification was submitted to the American National Standards
Institute by a group of storage vendors including Brocade, Cisco Systems, EMC,
Emulex, IBM, Intel, Nuova, QLogic, and Sun Microsystems. FCoE backs the
Convergence Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) specification, and as such it may also be
referred to as FCoCEE.
A Closer Look at Converged Data Center Networks We will cover how IB, iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Internet Protocol (FCIP) compares to Fibre Channel over Convergence Enhanced Ethernet (FCoCEE) later in this article. But first we will describe why Convergence Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) was needed, versus just using Fibre Channel (FC) over (today's) Ethernet.
Network Storage Forum Business Continuity, Hardware, Industry News, IP Storage, Management, Outsourcing and more for Enterprise Storage.
Vendors Propose Fibre Channel Over Ethernet Standard A group of networking and storage vendors led by Emulex Corp., EMC, Brocade and others has proposed a new standard for using the Fibre Channel protocol over Ethernet. The new technology specification is called Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).
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