Fibre Channel Association Leads the Internet Engineering Task Force to Set International Standards for Internet Protocol Over Fibre Channel.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 18, 1998-- The Internet Engineering Task Force Is Expected to Set International Industry Standard to Provide Fibre Channel's Speedy, Efficient and

Reliable Service to Public Internet and Corporate Intranet Users

Worldwide

In what is being described as one of its most important and challenging endeavors, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is working to standardize a specification that will allow Internet Protocol and Address Resolution Protocol to run over Fibre Channel, the fastest, most reliable method for high speed communications.

The standardization, proposed by members of the Fibre Channel Association (FCA), will solve the interoperability problems associated with having multiple implementations.

Fibre Channel (FC) is a high speed serial interface technology that supports several higher layer protocols including Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) and Internet Protocol (IP). Until now, SCSI has been the only widely used protocol over Fibre Channel.

Existing Fibre Channel standards do not adequately specify how IP packets can be transported over Fibre Channel and how IP addresses are resolved to Fibre Channel addresses.

Members of the FCA recognized that the need to run IP and ARP over Fibre Channel had reached a critical point wherein a standardized solution was necessary. The FCA formed a special IP working group to team with the IETF to define an industry standard.

"The importance of standardization and acceptance of IP over Fibre Channel by the IETF cannot be understated," said Dennis Talluto, Technology Manager, EDS and FCA board member.

"This undertaking by the members of the FCA and the IETF is a great example of the kind of international teamwork necessary for Fibre Channel to become accepted in the industry as the transport of choice for SAN/LAN integration. My company and I encourage Fibre Channel industry-wide support for this movement."

The Internet Protocol over Fibre Channel (IPFC) working group from the IETF is responsible for standardizing a specification that will provide a method for IP and ARP encapsulation over Fibre Channel. This specification will support all Fibre Channel topologies, including point-to-point, Loop and Fabric, and any FC class of service (1, 2, 3).

The specification will include procedures and protocols for the broadcast of ARP packets between Fibre Channel devices and an incapsulation mechanism to carry IP payloads.

"IP will be a big enabler in moving Fibre Channel further into the LAN world and will allow closer integration of Storage Area Networks (SANs) with LANs," said Murali Rajagopal, Senior Manager, Product Engineering at Gadzoox Networks and chairman of the IPFC Working Group of the IETF.

"We expect a lot of synergy between LANs and SANs to occur in the future, in powerful ways leading to improved performance. Within a SAN, SNMP-based Network Management over IP and Clustering applications will benefit immediately from this standard."

The IETF is an international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.

The actual technical work of the IETF is done in its working groups, which are organized by topic into several areas. Much of the work is handled via mailing lists and the Internet. The IETF has open membership and meets three times a year.

The FCA is a 70-plus member organization that fosters the development of Fibre Channel interconnect technology. The association has open membership, and its broad member base includes representatives from systems and communications manufacturers and system integrators.

Members manufacture and market cutting-edge Fibre Channel products, ranging from storage, servers and switches to hubs, adapters, test equipment and software.

For information on Fibre Channel or to become an FCA member, contact the Fibre Channel Association at 650/949-6730 or via email at [e-mail] or visit the web site at http://www.fibrechannel.com.