Fibre Channel over Ethernet Cuts Cost and Complexity of SAN Connectivity

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) eliminates the need for dedicated Fibre Channel connectivity from servers to your storage area network (SAN) by allowing conventional LAN traffic and lossless SAN traffic to share one, 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection.

As organizations add more servers to the SAN, equipment and management costs for two separate network fabrics can be prohibitive. FCoE provides savings on equipment, management, and power requirements, decreasing complexity and cost.

FCoE provides immediate cost benefits

FCoE removes the need for Fibre Channel host bus adapters to connect new servers to the SAN, reduces cabling and switch-port requirements, and coexists with existing Fibre Channel infrastructures.

• Simplified infrastructure cuts equipment and power costs while making it easier to connect more servers to the SAN
• Compatibility with existing topology requires only an edge switch upgrade-no changes to the core network
• Unified management enables FCoE to use existing Fibre Channel management infrastructures

FCoE simplifies your storage network

Connecting servers to the SAN using FCoE cuts the number of network interfaces and switch ports you need in half. The left part of the diagram below shows a conventional network with separate LAN and SAN connections for each server. At the right, FCoE unifies both traffic types in a unified Ethernet fabric.