Brocade FICON extension solutions with write and read acceleration capabilities are helping change the face of archiving information. Brocade is the first vendor to offer read pipelining over the long-distance extended FICON channel with the release of the USD-X and M3000 products. The high-speed extended FICON connectivity of the Brocade USD-X and M3000 products allows FICON-attached devices from any location to be treated as if they were local.

How this works is that the Brocade USD-X and M3000 emulate the FICON channel and control unit. IU pacing is adjusted so that the distance between the local and remote devices can be factored into the rate calculation and the full bandwidth of the network can be made available to the FICON data stream, making interruptions to the flow of information a mute point.

Additionally, the Brocade FICON extension products emulate each device, therefore, FICON channel programs can be run at local and remote ends of the network. "This removes channel program handshakes from the wide area section of the network, speeding the communication process further," notes a Sun white paper. "By emulating the channel, control unit, and devices in the FICON channel, the Brocade USD-X and M3000 eliminate excess traffic and mimic long-distance protocol handshakes locally, to speed the streaming of tape data over the network."

Pair these Brocade FICON extension solutions with the Sun StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager 5 (VSM5) and customers no longer have to manage their data in terms of local and remote storage. VSM5 with the high-speed tape pipelining features of the Brocade FICON extension solutions allows FICON connectivity to be extended over long-distance IP networks. The combined solution can significantly reduce backup and restore times, and improve disaster protection by enabling backup data to be placed at a different location.

"Faster tape vaulting over distance allows companies to electronically transfer backup data to disaster recovery facilities rather than rely on physically transporting tape or on a courier service, thereby reducing the possibility of lost, damaged, or stolen tapes, and improving data security and availability," the paper continues. "This architectural approach also allows companies to spread their storage infrastructure over multiple power grids and over greater distances, reducing the impact that any single data center outage or regional disaster might have on the entire network."

To learn more about these solutions, see Brocade Tape Pipelining with Sun\'s StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager. [...read more...]

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