Essentially this product is a service providers flexible friend (not unlike Gumby) for
two reasons. First, it can connect Fibre Channel SANs over an IP backbone or,
alternatively, Ethernet/IP LANs over a Fibre Channel backbone.
Connecting a Fibre Channel SAN over IP enables enterprises (or service providers) to
tie together remote islands of storage over existing wide area networks. The
downside to this approach is that they have to trust their data to IP
which is not known for reliability. The iSCSI standard for transporting
storage data over IP is expected to address these issues, although its
stuck in the approvals process right now.
Connecting an Ethernet/IP LAN directly to a Fibre Channel backbone, on the other
hand, provides a more reliable path for data. It also boosts performance.
The Holy Grail that Cisco (and all the IP SAN startups) are striving for
is to get storage traffic running over IP and to eventually collapse the two
separate networks into one giant IP network. SANcastles switch has set the
ball rolling in this direction.
Its up against some steep competition. Brocade Communications Systems
Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Gadzoox Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:
ZOOX), McData Corp. (Nasdaq:
MCDT), Inrange
Technologies Corp., and all the other major Fibre Channel players are building
gigabit Ethernet ports into their Fibre Channel switches. None are shipping yet,
though. And Cisco is adding a Fibre Channel blade to its Catalyst 6000 LAN switch
through a deal with Brocade. This isnt expected until the end of the year.
When these products ship, the LAN and SAN switches will plug together without
the need for a SANcastle box in the middle.
