Page 17 of 18 March 2001 Fibre Channel: Why another interface? Exabyte Fibre Channel Libraries Exabyte recently introduced several native Fibre Channel libraries with capacities ranging from 4.5 TB to 30.0 TB. These libraries are built around a Fibre Channel version of Exabyte’s award-winning M2™ (Mammoth-2) MammothTape™ technology tape drive. This Fibre Channel M2 tape drive is the industry’s first midrange tape drive to incorporate native Fibre Channel connectivity. The native Fibre Channel interface allows the library and tape drives connect directly to a hub or switch in a Fibre Channel network, without an intermediate SCSI-to-Fibre Channel bridge. In addition to its native Fibre Channel interface, the Fibre Channel M2 tape drive includes a built-in implementation of the new E-copy command. E-copy allows backups to proceed directly from disk to tape without the data passing through the server and slowing down normal server functions. The ability to perform “serverless” backup is especially useful in a Storage Area Network (SAN) environment because it allows both the server and the SAN to function more efficiently. Fibre Channel is the ideal interface for building a Storage Area Network Fibre Channel’s numerous advantages over traditional bus or network connections make it the ideal interface technology for use in Storage Area Networks. p1   p2   p3   p4   p5   p6   p7   p8   p9   p10   p11   p12   p13   p14   p15   p16   p17   p18