Our recent FCIA webcast “128GFC: A Preview of the New Fibre Channel Speed” with FCIA experts, Dean Wallace, Mark Jones, and Kiran Ranabhor was a big hit with our audience, earning a 4.9 rating on a 1-5 scale. During the live event, our presenters dove into details on the 128GFC standard FC-PI-8 (physical), 128GFC standard FC-FS-6 (framing and signaling), optical transceivers used in 128GFC, protocol changes required for 128GFC implementation, the future roadmap and more. If you missed the live event, you can view it on the FCIA BrightTALK Channel or on the FCIA YouTube Channel. The live audience asked several great questions. Here are answers from our experts:
Q. Is NVMe Fabrics or FC-NVMe vs. Ethernet based NVMe (RoCE / iWARP) tracked? Number of ports or anything else? Please explain why?
A. We are not aware of anyone tracking port counts specific to FC-NVMe vs. the Ethernet protocols. Regarding enterprise Storage Area Networks (SAN) where Fibre Channel has been the dominant connectivity, we see that nearly all array vendors have implemented FC-NVMe, whereas NVMe over Ethernet is not yet widely used.
Q. Are there any plans or recommendations for transport of 128GFC over OTN DWDM Links?
A. No. At this time, there are no plans.
Q. Slide 14 does not show 128GFC-SW for MM fiber?
A. Slides have been updated to reflect 128GFC-SW, this was a typo.
Q. In the public review version of FC-PI-8 (revision 1.4), it still says 12,800 MB/s as Data Rate (page 10). I take it, that changed?
A. We decided not to change this in the FC document.
Q. What happened to Low Power FC specification? Is that still there with 128GFC? I think it was dropped with 64G already, but asking for confirmation.
A. There are currently no plans for another low power FC specification. Given the need for low power this might change in the future.
Q. So 128GFC breaks the tradition of doubling data rate from previous generation. This is not really a great decision. Can you elaborate on motivations? it seems 128G is focused on cost reduction rather than performance.
A. A doubling of speed would have required a line rate of 115.6Gbps and the technical teams did not feel this was feasible to close the link budget. There were also concerns about getting components such as SW optics.
Q. Are these PI numbers that Brocade uses to name its generations? I.E. FC-PI-7 = Generation 7?
A. The FCIA has adopted a generational marketing naming scheme that coincides with the collections of current standards when a new FC-PI standard is made available, such as Gen 8 for 128GFC. Most Fibre Channel component suppliers also follow this naming as it applies to the maximum capable speed of their component designs.
Q. Which city will be the PlugFest event be held?
A. A Plugfest event location has not yet been confirmed. We are still soliciting interest from interested vendors. The “Call for Interest” survey gives one an opportunity to comment on their preferred location and venue. Please fill out the survey here.
