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NEW PRODUCT NEWS—edited by Rick Prescott

2-GB Fiber Channel Host Bus Adapters

Two new 2-GB fiber channel host bus adapters (HBAs) that address the ever-expanding bandwidth requirements of real-time and storage applications are now available. The two FC23 64-bit/66 MHz PCI mezzanine cards (PMCs) support 400 MBps full-duplex and 200 MBps half-duplex data transfer rates and automatically negotiate 1- or 2-GB fiber channel bit rates. FC23PMC-IC features one copper interface via a high-speed serial data connector (HSSDC) port. FC23-PMC-1F provides one fiber port that supports multimode LC duplex fiber-optic cable.

Both PMCs take full advantage of industry-standard fiber channel features and benefits, plus incorporate features such as a streamlined protocol engine, RemoteDMA protocol, and SCSI target protocol. Device drivers for Solaris, Linux, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 are provided for standard file system and network support.

The high-sustained throughput and low latency offered by the FC23 series are made possible by a rich feature set. The single chip engine that includes an enhanced RISC processor, fiber channel protocol manager, 2-GB transceivers, and on-chip frame buffers optimizes performance. To ease integration and simplify operation, the PMCs automatically negotiate 1- or 2-GB fiber channel bit rates. Consequently, a FC23 card can be connected to a FC22 card, and the FC23 PMC will automatically operate at the l-GB rate of the FC22.

SCSI target/initiator protocol support allows a computer to function as a SCSI target, as such it achieves maximum bandwidth for peer-to-peer communications. The computer can concurrently be both an initiator and a target, thus allowing full-duplex peer-to-peer communications at aggregate rates over 400 MBps. For system flexibility, the highest bandwidth and lowest transfer latency, RemoteDMA bypasses complex protocol stacks. Data can be moved between one system and another workstation or single board computer without using any processor cycles on the remote computer.

The FC23-PMC-1 C and FC23-PMC-1 F are immediately available for $1285 and $1595, respectively.

SBS Technologies, Inc.
(888) 598-8111
Fax: (760) 438-6901
www.sbs.com

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