Fibre Channel Over Ethernet
John Hufferd, Senior Executive Director of Technology, Brocade Communications, Inc.

A new concept is currently moving through the Fibre Channel (T11) standards committee called Fire Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). FCoE is a concept that encapsulates Fibre Channel frames into Ethernet Frames and amalgamates these technologies into a network fabric that can support Fibre Channel protocols and other Ethernet based protocols (such as TCP/IP, UDP/IP etc.). The tutorial will show the Fundamentals of the FCoE concept and describe how it might be exploited in a Data Center environment. It will also be positioned with respect to normal Fibre Channel and iSCSI. Note to submission reviewers: There are two proposals that are being investigated, within the T11 committee, to address the FCoE concept. This presentation will present the common features of both proposals along with any committee agreements that are current at the time of the presentation.

Learning Objectives

• The audience will gain an understanding of the concept of using a Data Center type Ethernet for the transmission of Fibre Channel protocols
• The audience will gain an understanding of how a Fibre Channel protocol can share an Ethernet network with other Ethernet based protocols.
• The audience will understand when the various storage connection and protocols types (FC, iSCSI, and FCoE) are best used in various environments.