FCIA COMPLETES LARGE GROUP TESTING PERIOD.

The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) successfully completed the second of three Large Group Test Periods (LGTPs) scheduled for 2001. This open industry sponsored "Plugfest" was attended by 28 hardware and software companies involved in the Fibre Channel industry. The purpose of this event was to mature operability among these vendors' products by bringing together a wide range of people and products, educating vendors on how to execute the SANmark Qualification test suites and perform interoperability test tracks. These test tracks included 2Gig operation, Large Fabric operation, HBA API operation, FC-IP and Ad Hoc testing between vendors.

According to Bill Martin, SANmark Technical Leader, "The FCIA established the SANmark Qualified Program to provide the industry with an objective indication of how Fibre Channel products perform against industry standards through the use of published conformance test suites." Martin went on to explain, "The ultimate objective is to protect our mutual customers' and end-users' investment in Fibre Channel technology, while accelerating market adoption and satisfying the continuously growing storage networking demand."

Tom Hammond-Doel, FCIA secretary said, "Fibre Channel networks are typically held to a higher standard because of the critical path nature of the components. The SANmark Qualification Program is helping the industry to rapidly approach a level of plug and play that is beyond what is available with other protocols. This is because Fibre Channel solutions have, for several years, delivered 24 x 7 x 365 operation in mission critical Storage Area Networks (SAN)."

Plugfest participants were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the opportunity to collaborate within the FCIA-sponsored open industry event. One participant explained it this way, "There is an acceptance of (competitive) vendors working together. I find the Plugfest very impressive. All the players are here in one spot to work out problems and advance the industry. The Plugfest is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish." The third LGTP will be held later this fall.

The SANmark Qualified Program is sponsored, operated, and promoted as an open industry, conformance test suite development program, within the non-profit 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 non-members of the FCIA organization, and is intended to benefit the entire storage networking industry at large.

The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is an international organization of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers, system vendors, industry professionals, and end users. With more than 190 members and affiliates in the United States, Europe and Japan, the 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 that target both vertical and horizontal markets, including storage, video, networking and SAN Management.