RE: iFCP: FC-BB exists, why invent something new?

[Joshua Tseng <jtseng@NishanSystems.com>]

Matt,

<some material deleted>
> 
> Ok, so iFCP is going to connect FCP devices.  FC-BB already 
> exists to "bridge"
> FC islands. FCIP appears to provide the FC-BB functionality 
> (and is not
> restricted to FCP). What does iFCP bring to the table that 
> FC-BB does not
> already provide?
> 
> -Matt
> 

iFCP allows routing storage traffic between individual
FC devices over an IP network.  FC-BB only bridges SAN islands.
As you are aware, there is a very significant difference
between bridging and routing.

The former (FC-BB) requires the routing to be performed by 
FC switches.  The latter (iFCP) has the routing performed by IP
switches.  Since I work for Nishan, my opinion is the latter is
much superior, but I have to admit there may be situations where
a simple bridging/tunneling implementation will be sufficient to
address a particular requirement.  BUT, I also believe
there will be situations, especially with increasing storage
networking demands, that the latter will be needed to achieve
the required scale of storage networking deployments that will
be needed in the near future.

Josh