sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash New Fibre Channel Used by Lawrence Livermore SunFLASH Vol 56 #12 August 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56.12 New Fibre Channel Used by Lawrence Livermore The Fibre Channel Systems Initiative (FCSI) is a joint effort of HP, IBM and Sun to create high-speed "on-ramps" to the digital information highway. The first prototype implementation of the FCSIis at LLNL. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST FIBRE CHANNEL INTERCONNECT IN USE AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY Breakthrough Technology to Reduce Data Transfer from 40 Minutes to 2 Seconds Livermore, Calif. -- Aug. 11, 1993 -- The Fibre Channel Systems Initiative, a joint effort of Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM and Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, to create high-speed "on-ramps" to the digital information highway, today announced the first prototype implementation of the new high speed fiber optic technology that dramatically reduces the time it takes to transfer large, complex files between computers. The first implementation of the prototype technology is at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California, the test site for interoperability for the Fibre Channel Systems Inititative (FCSI). Launched in February, the Fibre Channel Systems Initiative's goal is the advancement of Fibre Channel as an affordable, high-speed interconnection standard for workstations and peripherals used in thousands of commercial and technical applications. Because the results of their efforts will be open and available to the public, the eventual impact will enhance the way all computers are used in business, medicine, science, education and government. The national laboratory will use the technology in complex computer simulations of occurences, such as fusion experiments. The simulations are so complex that often a supercomputer cannot complete them without first having a physicist manipulate the model on a workstation. This requires transferring the data, approximately 160 megabytes, from a supercomputer to a workstation for manual correction and then transferring the data back to the supercomputer for completion. This process takes up to 40 minutes using an Ethernet connection, but with the prototype Fibre Channel interconnect it will take 8 minutes, and with a full gigabit speed interconnect available in the near future, it will take 2 seconds. "Lawrence Livermore's needs were ideally suited for Fibre Channel interconnects because their applications involve so many different computers, ranging in scale from workstations to supercomputers, and include several major brands," said Dr. Ed Frymoyer, program manager, Fibre Channel Systems Initiative. Fibre Channel's speed is not affected by additional connections and it simplifies the connection between workstations from companies like Sun, HP, IBM and others with supercomputers. And, with Fibre Channel, data can be transmitted bi-directionally at 1 gigabit per second at distances up to 10 kilometers. "I wanted an interconnect technology that could transfer data as fast as the human eye could visualize it, and Fibre Channel was exactly what I was looking for," said Paul R. Rupert, manager, Advanced Telecommunications Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. According to Frymoyer, FCSI's relationship with Lawrence Livermore has been beneficial for the advancement of Fibre Channel technology. He said the laboratory's use of a wide range of workstations has given FCSI's three members much needed input for developing "profiles" that will be available to the public. The profiles, or specifications, will assist all computer manufacturers in designing products that have Fibre Channel technology built into them. Hewlett-Packard Company is an international manufacturer of measurement and computation products and systems recognized for excellence in quality and support. The company's products and services are used in industry, business, engineering, science and medicine and education in approximately 100 countries. HP has 93,100 employees and revenues of $16.4 billion in its 1992 fiscal year. IBM's Advance Workstations and Systems is responsible for the design, development and manufacture of the standards-based RISC-System/6000 POWERstation/POWERserver* product family. These systems support more than 6,500 software applications available for IBM's AIX/6000* operating system, enabling users to maximize the power of the RISC System/6000 to meet their business needs. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) is the world's leading vendor of open client-server computing solutions. It is an operating company of Sun Microsystems, Inc., the exclusive computer supplier to World Cup USA 1994. 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