Network switch connects storage area network islands

Gadzoox Networks last week announced the industry's first stackable storage area network (San) switch, which it said would allow IT managers to build San networks.

The switch, called Capellix 2000, provides a means to interconnect multiple switches without consuming primary switch ports or creating complex mesh topologies, said Gadzoox.

Ian Valkeith, network administrator at San user West Herts College, welcomed the development, and said it is a technology that users would find useful, particularly if they have geographically dispersed sites.

"If you have a couple of Sans, it would be very useful to connect them," he said.

Analyst IDC predicts that businesses will need to interconnect application-driven "San islands" to a high-speed backbone for unified storage management and disaster tolerance systems as San deployments increase.

Claus Egge, a research manager at IDC, said the development of Sans is similar to that of Lans, and that there will be an increasing need to interconnect dispersed Sans though a high-speed fibre channel backbone within businesses.

Gadzoox said Capellix 2000 is designed to fill this role and provide a measure of future proofing. Conventional fixed configuration eight-port entry-level San switches would need to be replaced to add high-speed links to a future multi-gigabit backbone. In contrast, Capellix 2000 allows San islands to be connected to the backbone through a plug-in module.

"Users can grow with a cluster by been able to stack switches, and Capellix 2000 is modular so it will be able to link with higher speed technology," said Nigel Houghton, Gadzoox's technical account manager.

In addition to a 12Gbps switching engine that provides 50 per cent more bandwidth than fixed-configuration eight-port San switches, Capellix 2000 also features the Reflex II Name Server, which is designed to enhanced reliability and resiliency in an entry-level San switch.

By tapping into the 12Gb per second switching engine, the plug-in architecture supports a number of expansion capabilities such as the addition of three-addition full bandwidth, non-blocking switch ports and the ability to stack multiple switches.