SAN Fabric

The IBM® System Storage® SAN768B and IBM System Storage SAN384B fabric backbones are highly robust network switching platforms designed for evolving enterprise data centres. Each machine combines breakthrough performance, scalability and energy efficiency with long-term investment protection. Supporting open systems and IBM System z® environments, these platforms address data growth and server virtualisation challenges; enable server, SAN, and data centre consolidation; minimize disruption and risk; and reduce infrastructure and administrative costs.

Built for large enterprise networks, the SAN768B has eight vertical blade slots to provide up to 512 8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The SAN384B is ideal for midsize core or edge deployments, providing four horizontal blade slots and up to 256 8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The flexible blade architecture also supports FCoE, fabric-based encryption for data-at-rest and SAN extension advanced functionality for high-performance server I/O consolidation, data protection and disaster recovery solutions.

The SAN768B and SAN384B are extremely efficient at reducing power consumption, cooling and the carbon footprint in data centres. While providing exceptional performance and scale, these networking backbones use less than one watt per Gbps—significantly more efficient than alternate offerings.

The SAN768B and SAN384B are build on years of innovation and use the core technology of systems designed to perform at greater than 99.999 percent uptime in the world’s most demanding data centres. With its intelligent sixth-generation ASICs and advanced hardware and software capabilities, the SAN768B and SAN384B provide a reliable foundation for fully connected multiprotocol SAN fabrics capable of supporting thousands of servers, storage and networking devices.

As members of the IBM System Storage family of b-type SAN products, the SAN 768B and the SAN384B are designed to participate in fabrics containing other b-type and m-type devices manufactured by Brocade. This versatile hardware can serve as backbone in a complex fabric and provide connections to other b-type and m-type directors, switches and routers.
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• PortsSAN768B: Up to 512 per chassis, up to 1536 when three chassis are connected via inter-chassis links; SAN384B: Up to 256 per chassis, up to 768 when three SAN384B chassis are connected via inter-chassis links.
  
• Link SpeedsFibre Channel: 1.063 Gbps line speed, full duplex; 2.125 Gbps line speed, full duplex; 4.25 Gbps line speed, full duplex; 8.50 Gbps line speed, full duplex; auto sensing of 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbps port speeds; optionally programmable 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbps ports; 10.5 Gbps line speed, full duplex.
  CEE: 10.0 Gbps line speed, full duplex.
  FCIP: 1 Gbps line speed; 10 Gbps line speed.
  SAN768B ICL bandwidth: 512 Gbps; four ICLs, 16 × 8 Gbps Fibre Channel connections; SAN384B ICL bandwidth: 256 Gbps; four ICLs, 8 × 8 Gbps Fibre Channel connections.
  
• Operating SystemsIBM z/OS®, IBM AIX®, Microsoft® Windows®, UNIX®, Linux®, selected other operating systems
  
• Optional FeaturesSAN768B:16-port, 32-port, 48-port, and 64-port 8 Gbps Fibre Channel switch blade; 10 Gbps Fibre Channel switch blade; FCoE 10 GbE 24-port blade; 8 Gbps Extension blade; 8 Gbps 16-port encryption blade; SFPs and XFPs; fiber optic cables; Inter-Chassis Cable Kit; Inter-Chassis License; Upgrade Power Supplies; FICON® w/CUP activation; 8 Gbps Advanced Extension; 8 Gbps Extension Blade 10 GbE Activation; 8 Gbps Advanced FICON Accelerator; Encryption 96 Gbps Disk Performance Upgrade Activation; and Integrated Routing
  SAN384B:16-port, 32-port, 48-port, and 64-port 8 Gbps Fibre Channel switch blade; 10 Gbps Fibre Channel switch blade; FCoE 10 GbE 24-port blade; 8 Gbps Extension blade; 8 Gbps 16-port encryption blade; SFPs and XFPs; fiber optic cables; Inter-Chassis Cable Kit; Inter-Chassis License; FICON w/CUP activation; 8 Gbps Advanced Extension; 8 Gbps Extension Blade 10 GbE activation; 8 Gbps Advanced FICON Accelerator; Extended Fabric; Encryption 96 Gbps Disk Performance Upgrade Activation; and Integrated Routing