Editing Fibre Channel (section)

== History ==
Fibre Channel is standardized in the [[Technical Committee T11|T11 Technical Committee]] of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards ([[INCITS]]), an [[American National Standards Institute]] (ANSI)-accredited standards committee. Fibre Channel started in 1988, with ANSI standard approval in 1994, to merge the benefits of multiple physical layer implementations including [[SCSI connector|SCSI]], [[HIPPI]]  and [[ESCON]].

Fibre Channel was designed as a [[Serial communication|serial interface]] to overcome limitations of the SCSI and HIPPI physical-layer parallel-signal copper wire interfaces. Such interfaces face the challenge of, among other things, maintaining signal timing coherence across all the data-signal wires (8, 16 and finally 32 for SCSI, 50 for HIPPI) so that a receiver can determine when all the electrical signal values are "good" (stable and valid for simultaneous reception sampling). This challenge becomes evermore difficult in a mass-manufactured technology as data signal frequencies increase, with part of the technical compensation being ever reducing the supported connecting copper-parallel cable length. See [[Parallel SCSI]]. FC was developed with leading-edge [[multi-mode optical fiber]] technologies that overcame the speed limitations of the ESCON protocol. By appealing to the large base of SCSI disk drives and leveraging mainframe technologies, Fibre Channel developed [[economies of scale]] for advanced technologies and deployments became economical and widespread.

Commercial products were released while the standard was still in draft.<ref name=ZG940168>[https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/8/877/ENUSZG94-0168/index.html IBM 7319 Model 100 Fibre Channel Switch 16/266 and IBM Fibre Channel Adapter/266]</ref> By the time the standard was ratified lower speed versions were already growing out of use.<ref>Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling Interface (FC-PH) Rev 4.3, June 1, 1994</ref> Fibre Channel was the first serial storage transport to achieve gigabit speeds<ref>[https://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/samplechapter/0/3/2/1/0321136500.pdf Tom Clark, Designing Storage Area Networks: A Practical Reference for Implementing Fibre Channel and IP SANs]</ref> where it saw wide adoption, and its success grew with each successive speed. Fibre Channel has doubled in speed every few years since 1996.

{{Reflist|group=v}}In addition to a modern physical layer, Fibre Channel also added support for any number of "upper layer" protocols, including [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode|ATM]], [[Internet Protocol|IP]] ([[IPFC]]) and [[FICON]], with [[SCSI]] ([[Fibre Channel Protocol|FCP]]) being the predominant usage.

Fibre Channel has seen active development since its inception, with numerous speed improvements on a variety of underlying transport media. The following tables shows the progression of native Fibre Channel speeds:<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Roadmaps
 |url         = https://fibrechannel.org/roadmap/
 |publisher   = Fibre Channel Industry Association
 |access-date  = 2023-03-05
}}</ref>
{{mw-datatable}}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-datatable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ {{vanchor|Fibre Channel variants}}<ref name="Fibre Channel Speedmap">[https://fibrechannel.org/roadmap/ Fibre Channel Speedmap]</ref>
! Name
! Line-rate ([[Baud|gigabaud]])
! Line coding
! Nominal throughput per direction {{nowrap|(MB/s)}}
! Market availability
|-
! {{nowrap|133 Mbit/s}}
| 0.1328125
| [[8b/10b encoding|8b10b]]
| align="right" | 12.5
| 1993
|-
! {{nowrap|266 Mbit/s}}
| 0.265625
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 25
| 1994<ref name=ZG940168 />
|-
! {{nowrap|533 Mbit/s}}
| 0.53125
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 50
| {{dunno}}
|-
! 1GFC (Gen 1)
| 1.0625
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 100
| 1997
|-
! 2GFC (Gen 2)
| 2.125
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 200
| 2001
|-
! 4GFC (Gen 3)
| 4.25
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 400
| 2004
|-
! 8GFC (Gen 4)
| 8.5
| 8b10b
| align="right" | 800
| 2008
|-
! 16GFC (Gen 5)
| 14.025
| [[64b/66b encoding|64b66b]]
| align="right" | 1,600
| 2011
|-
! 32GFC (Gen 6)
| 28.05
| 256b257b
| align="right" | 3,200
| 2016<ref name=g620release>Brocade 32Gb platform released, Storagereview.com {{cite web |url=http://www.storagereview.com/brocade_g620_gen_6_fibre_channel_switch_released |title=Brocade G620 Gen 6 Fibre Channel Switch Released |date=March 2016 |access-date=2016-04-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404014046/http://www.storagereview.com/brocade_g620_gen_6_fibre_channel_switch_released |archive-date=2016-04-04 }}</ref>
|-
! 64GFC (Gen 7)
| 28.9
| 256b257b (FC-FS-5)
| align="right" | 6,400
| 2020
|-
! 128GFC (Gen 8)
| 56.1<ref>[https://fibrechannel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FCIA-128GFC-Webcast-Final-v1.pdf 128GFC: A Preview of the New Fibre Channel Speed]</ref>
|256b257b
| align="right" | 12,800
|Planned 2025
|}
FC used throughout all applications for Fibre Channel infrastructure and devices, including edge and ISL interconnects. Each speed maintains backward compatibility at least two previous generations (I.e., 32GFC backward compatible to 16GFC and 8GFC)

{{mw-datatable}}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-datatable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ {{vanchor|Inter-Switch Link variants}}<ref name="Fibre Channel Speedmap"/>
! Name
! Line-rate ([[Baud|gigabaud]])
! Line coding
! Nominal throughput per direction {{nowrap|(MB/s)}}
! Market availability
|-
! 10GFC
| 10.51875
| 64b66b
| align="right" | 1,200
| 2009
|-
! 128GFC (Gen 6)
| 28.05 × 4
| 256b257b
| align="right" | 12,800
| 2016<ref name=g620release />
|-
! 256GFC (Gen 7)
| 28.9 × 4
| 256b257b
| align="right" | 25,600
| 2020
|}
Inter-Switch Links, ISLs, are usually multi-lane interconnects used for non-edge, core connections, and other high speed applications demanding maximum bandwidth. ISL’s utilize high bit-rates to accommodate the funneling of edge connections. Some ISL solutions are vendor-proprietary.