NEWS BRIEFS
San Francisco, CALIF. — The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) has announced that they have scheduled a test period for the SANmark Qualification and Trademark Licensing Program. The testing takes place October 23-27, 2000 at the Interphase Corporation Interoperability Test Facility in Dallas, Texas.
“The FCIA along with the SANmark Program Group has made this test period happen,” says David Deming, FCIA President. “This ‘benchmarking’ event is the first in a series of SANmark test periods that will be held by the FCIA since the programs formal announcement and finalization.”
Any FCIA member company is eligible to participate in the interoperability testing. The cost of the event participation is $1,500 per company. According to the association, all vendors are encouraged to test product regardless of the stage of development – production, alpha or beta.
The purpose of the SANmark program is to identify key protocol elements that could adversely affect a multi-vendor Fibre Channel based SAN. The FCIA with assistance from the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab have built tests that can be used by Fibre Channel vendors to test these vital elements and eliminate multi-vendor interoperability issues.
“The association is convinced that the quickest route to commercial implementation of Fibre Channel is to aggressively pursue any remaining interoperability issues of this technology from a user perspective. That’s why we’re pushing the SANmark program and why Interphase is willing to coordinate such an event,” comments Deming.
Key Features of the Testing include:
— Huge 30,000 square foot facility that provides plenty of room for testing
— Testing takes approximately two hours per product
— FCIA and UNH staffed and supported lab environment
— Product at any stage of development welcome: production, alpha or beta
— Confidentiality for test results is assured
Furthermore, the FCIA Web site with the addition of the SANmark link has been updated with the final version of the SANmark Revision A Application and the Technical Reference document. The materials are linked within the SANmark Program Guide.
The SANmark program is designed for Fibre Channel manufacturers or independent laboratories to verify compliance among products from multiple vendors. The goal of the SANmark program is to ensure multi-vendor conformance to common network operation that promotes robust, heterogeneous Fibre Channel networks. Vendors who successfully complete the certification program will be “SANmark Qualified.”
SANmark and any associated logos developed in conjunction with it will designate Fibre Channel products that comply with a high level of quality. Under the qualification and licensing program, FCIA members and non-members alike who sell Fibre Channel products may enter into license agreements with the FCIA.
“The SANmark program puts the association one step closer to eliminating interoperability issues among all its member companies,” concludes Deming.
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is an international organization of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers, systems vendors, industry professionals, and end users. With more than 190 members and affiliates in the United States, Europe and Japan, the FCIA is committed to delivering a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure to support a wide array of industry applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas. FCIA Working Groups focus on specific aspects of the technology that target both vertical and horizontal markets, including storage, video, networking and SAN Management. For information, please contact the Fibre Channel Industry Association at http://www.fibrechannel.org .
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