What is Fibre Channel?
SearchStorage, January 10th, 2023
Fibre Channel is a high-speed networking technology primarily used for transmitting data among data centers, computer servers, switches and storage at data rates of up to 128 Gbps.
It was developed to overcome the limitations of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) and High-Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI) by filling the need for a reliable and scalable high-throughput and low-latency protocol and interface.
Fibre Channel is especially suited for connecting servers to shared storage devices and interconnecting storage controllers and drives. The Fibre Channel interface was created for storage area networks (SANs). Fibre Channel devices can be as far as 10 kilometers -- approximately six miles -- apart if multimodal optical fiber is used as the physical cable medium. Optical fiber is not required for shorter distances. Fibre Channel also works using coaxial cable and ordinary telephone twisted pair. When using copper cabling, however, it is recommended that distances not exceed 100 feet.