NEWS BRIEFS

San Francisco, CA — The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) kicks off the New Year by announcing Interoperability testing for the SANmark(TM) Qualification and Trademark Licensing Program. Testing took place January 8-12, 2001 at the Interphase Corporation Interoperability Test Facility in Dallas, Texas.

“I can not emphasize the importance of these test periods,” affirms David Deming, FCIA President. “Those who have attended and participated in previous plugfests would agree that these events significantly reduce multi-vendor compatibility issues.”

Plugfests in 2001 offer a series of test tracks. These test tracks help to establish the interoperability status for a variety of companies and their products.

A recent plugfest addition is a test track that offers companies the ability to test their products in a Fabric environment.

Coordinated by the Association’s SANmark Program Group and Interphase, the January 2001 group test period offers the following general tracks:

SANmark testing track — This track will test conformance to the latest SANmark standards (SANmark Conformance Documents). The following sub-tracks will be offered: SCD 2001v1, SCD 3001vA and SCD 2003vA.

“The SANmark program is designed for Fibre Channel manufacturers or independent laboratories to verify compliance among products from multiple vendors,” says Deming. “The goal of the SANmark program is to ensure multi-vendor conformance to common network operation that promotes robust, heterogeneous Fibre Channel networks.”

Switch Build Testing — This test track is open to switch vendors. The process consists of pair-testing switches and building a multi-switch fabric.

Fabric Build Testing — The Fabric build process is similar to the procedure used in the last FCIA group test period held in Durham.

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.

“Multi-vendor interoperability is a key requirement for any technology to move from lab test environments into a mainstream, pragmatic market solution,” adds Deming. “As more vendors provide complementary product offerings, user confidence is bolstered and market acceptance grows.”

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.

Key Features of the Testing:

— Huge 30,000 square foot facility that provides plenty of room for testing

— 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

To date (as of 05-Jan-01), the following companies have registered to attend this test:

— ADVA Ltd.

— Agilent Technologies

— BROCADE Communications Systems, Inc.

— CMD Technology, Inc.

— Crossroads Systems

— Emulex Corporation

— Finisar Corp

— Gadzoox Networks

— I-TECH Corp.

— IBM

— Inrange Technologies

— Interphase Corporation

— Lucent Technologies

— McDATA Corporation

— QLogic

— QLogic Corporation

— Sony Electronics

— Spectra Logic

— StorCase Technology

— Vixel

— Zzyzx Peripherals, Inc.

“The SANmark program continues to bring the association one step closer to eliminating interoperability issues among all its member companies,” concludes Deming.

About the FCIA

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 (415) 750-8355 or via e-mail at [email protected], or visit the FCIA web site at http://www.fibrechannel.org .

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